
CHKISTY MATHEWSON 
Famous pitfher of the New York National Leasjne Club 



THE BATTLE OF 
BASE-BALL 



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BY 



Cr H. CLAUDY 



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INCLUDING 
HOW I BECAME A BIG-LEAGUE PITCHER" 
BY CHRISTY MATHEWSON 



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NEW YORK 
THE CENTURY CO. 

1912 






Copyright, 1911, 1912. by 
The Century Co. 



Published^ Aprils igi2 



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€CI.A814235 



TO 

ALL AMERICAN BOYS IN GENERAL 

AND TO 

CARL HARRY CLAUDY, JR. 

IN PARTICULAR 



CONTENTS 

CHAFTEB PAGE 

I Base-ball a Battle of Brains as well 

AS Skill 3 

II Batting 24 

III Base-Running 59 

IV Generalship of Offense 83 

V Defense — Pitcher and Catcher . . . 118 

VI Fielding 153 

VII Generalship of Defense 192 

VIII Drill — Battlefield and Arms .... 220 

IX The Rules — League Law 248 

X Umpiring and Fair Play 283 

How I Became a Big-League Pitcher, by 
Christy Mathewson 313 



A. G. Spalding's Simplified Rules . . 353 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 



Christy Mathewson Frontispiece "^ 

McGraw, Manager of the New York Giants 5^ 

Cornelius McGillicuddy (Connie Mack) 5 i/^ 

Roger Bresnahan 16 u'' 

Hugh Jennings 16. 

Home Run Baker 27'^ 

Ty Cobb 34^-^ 

Hal Chase 46 

Russell Ford 46. 

Two pictures of Wagner 55- 

Successful steal home 65 

Two pictures of Walter Johnson 65 

Caught off second base 76''' 

Out on first 76 ^ 

The Hit and Run 85 

Blocked off 85 

Two pictures — one-tenth of a second counts , , . . . 06 ^ 

The catcher giving his signals 106 ^' 

Sliding in under the catcher 106 "^ ' 

Caught between third base and home 115 ' 

The Fallaway slide 115/ 

Mordecai (Three Fingered) Brown 126 »^ 

Johnny Evers 126 ^' 

A remarkable photograph of a sharp play at third . . . 135 »/ 



X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Catcher on the alert to prevent base-stealing 146 ^ 

Stone of the St. Louis team 146*''^ 

Johnny Kling, now of the Boston Nationals 155 '^ 

Catcher Gibson, of the Pittsburgh Club 155 >^ 

A bunt along the first base line 166 »^ 

A safe hit. Batsman reaching first base 175^ 

Caught at the plate 175'' 

Tinker always there , . . . 185 • 

Frank Chance 185 -' 

Chief Bender 196r 

A cyclonic slide 205 ^ 

Just beating the ball 205^ 

The crowd leaving the old Polo grounds 216 ^ 

New Polo grounds 229/ 

Jack Coombs 243v 

A jew of the spectators 254 v/ 

Ty Cobb's quickness 263 »/ 

Fighting for it 263 

Chief Meyers 274 v^ 

Marquard 274 i^ 

Lajoie of Cleveland 282' 

Collins of Philadelphia 282" 

Mathewson pitching a fast one 332 1 

Mathewson at the finish of the famous fade-away . . . 347 w' 



PREFACE 

Base-ball, the great American game, occupies a 
unique position among sports. It has a greater 
patronage than any other sport can boast, any- 
where in the world. It has so large an attendance 
that base-ball statisticians have given up trying 
to get and collate the figures, realizing the impos- 
sibility of accuracy! In 1910, 7,256,525 people 
saw the big league games — in 1911, no one knows 
how many, but it was unquestionably a much 
larger number. Then, of course, there were, be- 
sides, countless thousands who watched the minor 
league games, and almost the entire male popula- 
tion of the country must have seen some amateur 
games ! 

No other game has professional players of such 
high personal standing as the modern profes- 
sional ball-players (of whom, in the big league 
clubs, more than fifty are college graduates), or 
pays its players any such sums as are paid to 
American base-ball-players, whose salaries fre- 

xi 



PEEFACE 

quently run into the thousands of dollars a year 
(and, in two instances at least, to the sum of ten 
thousand dollars a year). 

No other game of any kind makes so universal 
an appeal in America. At any league park, on 
any playing day of the year, one can see a news- 
boy, a bank president, a laborer, a society man, a 
street-car conductor, and a judge sitting side by 
side enjoying the same sport, with an equal full 
understanding of its complicated rules and plays. 

No other sport can boast of so much intense ex- 
citement with so little personal danger. The only 
other games at all comparable with it in intensity 
of action and excitement, foot-ball, hockey, polo, 
etc., are all dangerous to limb and sometimes to 
life. Base-ball, while by no means without oc- 
casional danger, seldom records a fatality. 

Base-ball, playable only in fair and warm 
weather, works harm to neither player nor specta- 
tor. Cold weather base-ball is out of the ques- 
tion, for the simple reason that players cannot 
handle the ball with cold fingers. If it could be 
played during the winter, undoubtedly many peo- 
ple would get severe colds, if nothing worse, from 
watching it, and many players severe injuries 

xii 



PEEFACE 

from playing and sliding on frozen ground. As 
it is, these things do not happen. 

Base-ball combines quickness of action, quick- 
ness of thought, intense bodily activity, and gen- 
eralship and strategy, without making extreme de- 
mands upon physical strength. Small and light 
men make good ball-players, as well as large and 
heavy ones. But all, naturally strong or with but 
moderate muscular development, must be trained 
to the second in quickness of action, and must 
keep in perfect physical trim if the game is to be 
played at its best ; and so high a standard has been 
won in the skill of major league players that the 
public will not tolerate in its favorite sport any- 
thing but the best of play. 

During the playing season, every newspaper in 
the great cities devotes columns to the sport ; some 
of them whole pages. Special editors and writers 
are employed to ^^ cover" the base-ball assign- 
ments. And because of this interest taken in the 
game by those who want to read of it as well as 
see it, a special base-ball language has grown up, 
a language which is partly slang and partly tech- 
nical terms of the game, as intelligible to the base- 
ball ^^fan'' (short for fanatic) as it is meaning- 

xiii 



PREFACE 

less to those who do not love the sport, and so, 
learn its pithy jargon. 

It is, therefore, the author's hope that this book 
will not be too severely criticized from a literary 
standpoint if some echoes of this special language 
creep into the text, since to report matters con- 
cerning the game without departing sometimes 
from the language held as a model in schools is 
almost impossible. 

There have been so many books written on base- 
ball from so many different angles, that to show it 
from any side not a familiar one is well nigh im- 
possible. Yet too many of the stories of the game 
as written for the younger player either consider 
him as absolutely ignorant of its principles and 
so antagonize that lad who probably knows the 
rules of the game better than his instructor, or 
else are written so technically and for players of 
such mature age, that boys look in vain for that 
helpfulness which may fit their own especial needs. 

As no one man knows all of base-ball, so no one 
book can tell all its mighty story. But an earnest 
attempt has been made here to get at the heart of 
the game and tell of it from a boy's standpoint, 
and to show him, not only the wonders done by 

xiv 



PREFACE 

skilled players and fine teams, but how he, too, 
can become skilful, and, in part at least, do for 
himself, and for his team, what his favorite base- 
ball idol does frequently in a game of the major 
or minor leagues. 

Base-ball has many points in common with war- 
fare, albeit different enough in purpose and meth- 
ods. As explained in the first chapter, these 
points of similarity are actual, not imagined; in 
making the comparison, no stretching of a point 
for the sake of a pleasing imagery has been at- 
tempted. 

And on these lines, believing that all boys, like 
their American fathers, like a good fight, a fair 
fight, a square fight, without favor and with ^ ' May 
the best man win" for a sentiment, this book is 
written. 



C. H. Claudy. 



Washington, D. C, 
February 1, 1912. 



XV 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

Material for "The Battle of Base-ball" has been gathered from 
many sources, and many diflferent authorities have contributed 
opinions and suggestions that have been of great assistance. 
The book is especially indebted to the interesting incidents and 
explanations found in the base-ball writings of Mr. Hugh S. Ful- 
lerton; to the illuminating points set forth in the clever base- 
ball comment of Mr. J. E. Grillo in the Washington Star; and 
to the courtesy of Mr. J. C. Morse, Editor of The Baseball Maga- 
zine, in placing at the author's disposal a complete file of that 
authoritative and entertaining periodical; and to Mr. James E. 
Sullivan of the American Sports Publishing Company, for kind 
permission to reprint the Simplified Eules of Base-ball by Mr. A. 
G. Spalding. 

The information and advice herein set forth are furthermore 
enriched by the able and interesting chapter by the well-known 
pitcher of the New York Giants, Christy Mathewson — "How I 
Became a Big-League Pitcher." 

Last, but by no means least, the author wishes to offer his 
grateful acknowledgments to his friend, Robert H. Young, son of 
that "Uncle Nick" Young, whose name is beloved by base-ball 
players and base-ball lovers alike. Mr. Young has kindly given 
the entire manuscript a careful reading, and, from his deep 
knowledge of the game, has contributed many suggestions and 
keen criticisms of the greatest value. 

To all of these, and to the many professional players whose 
memories and experience have been drawn upon for story, inci- 
dent or advice, the author's sincere thanks are due, and are most 
heartily tendered. 

The Author. 



XVI 



THE BATTLE OF 
BASE-BALL 



THE BATTLE OF BASE BALL 

CHAPTER I 

Base-ball a Battle of Brains as well as Skill 

"T^ ATTLE? I thought it was a game!'' some 
J3 mother or sister may say, after reading 
the title, and before the season has educated 
them. 

But, when you come to think of it, base-ball is 
a battle. It has its generals, its captains, its 
lieutenants, its rank and file. It has its grand 
strategy, its tactics, and its drill. It has its bat- 
tlefield, its arms, and its equipment. It is a 
battle with rules, to be sure, but then, a real bat- 
tle, between real armies, is also fought according 
to certain rules, called by nations the laws of 
civilized warfare. These rules prohibit, for in- 
stance, the use of expanding or mushroom bul- 
lets, or poisoned swords or bayonets. The rules 
of the battle of base-ball prohibit certain kinds 
of balls, shoes, gloves. Civilized warfare recog- 

3 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

nizes the flag of truce, and will not permit a man 
carrying one to be shot. He is safe so long as he 
has the white flag. Base-ball, in which the end 
and aim of the defense is to put a man *^out,'' 
permits a soldier of the enemy to be safe from 
danger of being ^^put out'^ so long as he keeps 
his foot upon any of the white bags used as 
bases. Drill and discipline are the backbone at 
once of the company and the army-corps. His- 
tory gives many instances in which a numerically 
stiperior force has been routed by a much smaller 
but well-trained body of soldiers. In base-ball, 
the preliminary training, drill, and subjection to 
discipline mean everything when it comes to win- 
ning games — battles. In war the individually 
brilliant and brave man frequently performs 
some remarkable act, and lives forever as a hero, 
as Pickett at Gettysburg, or Hobson at Santiago 
Harbor; but it is the men who think first of the 
good of the entire army, and the success of the 
campaign, who win the battles. 

Tyrus Cobb, the star batsman of the Detroit 
team, American League, may steal home in a 
world series, or Neal Ball, of Cleveland, make an 
unassisted triple play and get a gold medal for 

4 



BEAINS AS WELL AS SKILL 

it, or Frank Baker make two home runs in a 
world's series and all but win it single handed; 
but in the long run the greater credit should be 
given the men who play for the team and the 
game, and not their own records, in base-ball, as 
well as in warfare. 

There are just two sides to a battle — offense 
and defense. There are just two parts to a base- 
ball game — offense and defense. In a battle the 
offense concerns itself with capturing a station, 
a city, occupying a position, driving the enemy 
before it. The main idea in modern warfare is 
not, *^IIow many men can we kill?" but, ^^How 
much can we win from the enemy?" In base- 
ball, the offense strives to occupy certain sta- 
tions (bases) and win a certain city (home). 
The attempt is made to do this in the best, the 
quickest, the easiest way, and not at all neces- 
sarily by * 'killing" the greatest number of 
pitched balls. The man who stands at the plate 
and patiently ''waits out" a pitcher for a base 
on balls, with the bases full, is doing just as 
much to win a victory for his team as he who 
stands at the plate and bats the ball far out be- 
[ yond the enemy's reach. 

7 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

In warfare a general entering a campaign will 
plan it with every care. He will lay out his bat- 
tles as exactly as he can, decide which troops he 
will use in different situations, what tricks he 
will employ to fool the enemy and discount, as 
far as possible, the enemy's offense, by a pa- 
tient study of his resources, possibilities, and 
strength. 

Long before the Philadelphia Athletics and 
the Chicago Cubs had won the championships in 
their respective leagues in 1910, *' Connie Mack" 
and Frank Chance were gathering information, 
each about the other and the other's team. Mack 
knew, and saw that his pitchers knew, all that 
could be learned about each and every member 
of Chance's mighty machine — just what balls 
each man hit easiest, just which way the major- 
ity of their hits went, just what the average 
speed of each man on the team might be, just 
how far each might be allowed to take a **lead" 
from first without drawing a useless throw from 
the pitcher, just what their tactics would be in 
any one of a dozen situations. 

And Chance, you may be sure, was learning 
all he could of the weaknesses and the strength 

8 



BRAINS AS WELL AS SKILL 

of the Athletics — ^which men might be easily 
* * rattled, ' ' which men must be played for on their 
merits, just what to do with each of Mack's staff 
of wonderful pitchers, just what kind of a game 
would be most apt to beat him. 

In 1911 there were several interviews printed 
in many newspapers in which it was vehemently 
denied that either Connie Mack of the Phila- 
delphia Athletics or McGraw of the New York 
Giants (pennant winners in the two major 
leagues), had any interest in seeing their oppo- 
nents-to-be, in a game. They would win by 
** straight'' base-ball, these two; they were up to 
no tricks, these recognized foxes of base-ball war- 
fare; they would employ no scouts to watch the 
enemy! Yet the expert at the game could note 
that no pitcher or catcher was in doubt as to 
what kind of a ball should be pitched any batsman, 
and the small number of stolen bases shows the 
knowledge pitchers had of the amount of '*lead'' 
each and every base runner could be permitted. It 
was deemed necessary for the good of the com- 
ing games, to deny any plan-laying in advance, 
but it is a pretty safe conclusion that if there 
was anything McGraw didn't know about the 

9 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

Athletics or Mack about the Giants it was be- 
cause neither was able to get more information, 
not that neither tried. 

In defense an army endeavors to cripple the 
enemy, to prevent him carrying out his designs, 
to bother and annoy him wherever possible, to 
render his strategy useless and his plans of no 
effect. In base-ball the entire end and aim of the 
defense is to make the third ^^out" as quickly 
as possible, to do it, if it can be done, without 
allowing a man of the offense to occupy even 
the first station on the road to the city they 
would capture. 

**To make the third out as quickly as possible '* 
is usually true. Once in a while there will be a 
purposeful delay. If it is possible to get a 
pitcher caught between bases and to *^run him 
down'' it is an old, old base-ball trick to ^4et him 
live" as long as he is willing to dodge up and 
down the path in the hope finally of evading his 
opponents, because a tired and winded pitcher is 
not able to pitch so fast a ball, nor with such 
good control, as is he who refuses to **bite" on 
any such trick and who, seeing he must eventu- 
ally be retired submits gracefully to the inev- 

10 



BEAINS AS WELL AS SKILL 

itable and allows himself to be touched out. In 
an amateur game played in Washington, D. C, 
in 1911, a pitcher was ^'whip-sawed'' in a much 
more clever style than by being run down be- 
tween bases, by a trick which would fool no 
league player but which did fool this particular 
pitcher to the limit. He got on first base by an 
error, a genuine, dyed-in-the-wool, accidental er- 
ror, an overthrow of first by the short stop. The 
score was tied, there were two out and the eighth 
inning, and of course the runner kept on for sec- 
ond. The first baseman, recovering the ball, 
threw to second. The center-fielder was back- 
ing up the second baseman. The second base- 
man deliberately let the ball through his hands, 
and the runner, now certain of doing something 
for his team, kept on to third, where the center- 
fielder easily retired him, by a neat throw to the 
third baseman^ who almost dropped the ball 
from laughing at the trick. For that made the 
third out, the now panting runner had to go im- 
mediately to the pitcher's box, and before the 
ninth inning was over, he had been found for five 
singles, which, with an error, netted four runs, 
winning the game. 

11 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

An army has nerves, even as has the human 
body. When you want to throw a ball, your 
brain sends a message to the muscles of your arm 
to do thus-and-so, and the arm does it. When 
the brain of an army, its commanding general, 
wants to order an attack or retreat, he sends a 
message, by means of the army's nerves — wires, 
telegraph instruments, wireless instruments, sig- 
nal flags, signal lanterns, etc., manipulated by his 
Signal Corps, and the branch or arm signaled to, 
responds. 

Just as the nerves of an army are its signals, 
so the nerves of a base-ball team are the signals 
or signs by which the captain or manager di- 
rects the play, and by which players inform each 
other what is about to be done. Neglect them, 
and the members of the team play each one for 
himself. Imagine a battle in which each regi- 
ment attempted to do just what it thought best 
to do, opposed to an army which was under the 
direction of one master brain! 

Interrupting an army's signals, stealing its in- 
telligence by making a secret connection with its 
telegraph-wires, capturing its messengers and 
reading its despatches, has always been one of 

12 



BRAINS AS WELL AS SKILL 

the romances of war. And reading the signals 
of an opposing team, learning what they are go- 
ing to do before they do it, and frustrating their 
attempt, is a favorite strategy in base-ball. But, 
just as it is against the law of nations to shoot 
with a mushroom bullet, which is needlessly 
cruel, even if certain, so it is against the laws of 
fair play, which distinguishes college ball and 
school ball and all boyhood *^ fair-play'' ball, to 
steal signals of an opposing team except upon 
the field, and by any other method than that of 
observation, acute watchfulness, and clever 
knowledge of play. It is said that the Chicago 
*^ White Sox,'' in one game in which they thought 
their signals were being read, changed signals 
entirely, not once or twice, but at every inning — 
nine times in a nine-inning game! It meant 
work beforehand to learn nine sets of signals, but 
it assured the men that their opponents were not 
getting their pitcher's intentions before he had 
delivered the ball! 

On the other hand, it is claimed that Eddie 
Collins, that wonderful scintillating star of sec- 
ond basemen, of the now twice World's Cham- 
pion Philadelphia Athletics, was able to guess the 

13 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

signals of the National League Champion club 
—the Chicago '^ Cubs ''—in the 1910 World Se- 
ries, and, by no other means than his eyes and 
his cleverness, warn his team-mates what to ex- 
pect on the field. If so, it was a splendid exhibi- 
tion of base-ball strategy, a part of the game, en- 
tirely honest and wholly creditable. Little 
Johnny Evers, the Chicago second baseman, the 
man who has been the center about which the en- 
tire Chicago team revolved for several years, is 
credited with being not only a lightning thinker, 
but a very acute observer, and able to guess 
plays, call the ball which is coming, and frustrate 
tricks of the opposing team with quite uncanny 
skill. 

When catcher Schmidt wlas with Detroit he gave 
signals to his pitchers with his hands, as do most 
catchers, but he also used his eyes, particularly 
when runners were on bases. This double system 
gave him a chance to signal two things at once, one 
for his own team, the other for a possible 
guesser. But sometimes the possible guesser 
outguesses the man who would fool him ! In the 
games between Pittsburgh and Detroit for the 
World's Championship, 1909, Tommy Leach, the 

14 



ROGER BRESNAHAX 

Tlie popular Catcher aud 

Manager of the St. Louis 

Club, National League 




HUGH JENNINGS 

Manager of the American 

J^eague Club "Detroits,"" 

popularly called ' • The 

Tigers'' 



BRAINS AS WELL AS SKILL 

center-fielder of the ^^ Pirates,'' had the happy 
thought that if Schmidt said one thing with his 
hands, he was saying another with his eyes. 
Close observation verified this, and so it fre- 
quently happened that the Pittsburgh batsmen 
knew, just as well as Schmidt, what his signals 
were. This was legitimate signal stealing, just 
as the capture and use of the enemy's telegraph- 
line, or the detection of his wireless message, is 
a legitimate strategy in warfare. 

There was some talk, following the 1911 
World's Series, that the Philadelphia team was 
able to get so many hits off Marquard and 
Mathewson because they had detected the bat- 
tery's signals. The method supposed to have 
been used, according to these stories, was this: 
Philadelphia has a *^ mascot," a little hunch- 
back who dresses in a Philadelphia uniform, and 
sits with the players, collecting the bats and ar- 
ranging them for the batters. Many patrons of 
the game will recall having seen him with a big 
catcher's mit, tossing and catching the ball with 
a pitcher before a game. According to these 
stories, this bat-boy would see the Giant's sig- 
nals when he walked out to pick up the bat the 

17 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

batsman discarded. Being near the ground, on 
account of his small stature, he was supposed to 
be able to see under the catcher's bent knee. 
Learning the signal, he would transmit it by signs 
to the coacher on third, who would inform the 
batsman what variety of pitched ball was coming. 

There seems to be an element of far-fetched- 
ness in this attempt to account for the hitting 
done by the Philadelphia players. It is gener- 
ally thought that ** Matty" pitches his own games 
— that is, decides for himself what he will give 
the batter, instead of taking signals from his 
catcher, yet it was *' Matty," the Great, who had 
to admit that, do what he would, he could not 
fool all the Philadelphia players, all the time. 

It is not always the cool, cautious, calculating 
general who wins the battle. Sometimes the des- 
perate, daring undertaking, the nervy willing- 
ness to risk all for a great gain, wins a great vic- 
tory. 

So it is in base-ball. The cool general, the cal- 
culating plan, wins often — but sometimes a des- 
perate situation needs a desperate remedy. The 
base-ball general who can rise to the occasion is, 
then, the man to have at the head of a team. 

18 



BRAINS AS WELL AS SKILL 

When the Detroit club was fighting for every 
game in 1909 — needed almost every game to win 
— there was a certain contest with the New York 
club, the ** Yankees'' or *^ Highlanders,'' in which 
Detroit was one run behind in the ninth inning. 
The batting order had rolled around in Manager 
Hugh Jennings's favor, and Owen Bush, the De- 
troits' midget short-stop, was up. He managed 
to draw a pass and rested on first. Mclntyre, 
the next man who came to the bat, contrived to 
get hit by a pitched ball, and he took first, Bush, 
of course, getting second. 

The cool, calculating general would have had 
Cobb, next up, * * hit it out, ' ' in the hope that either 
he or Crawford would be able to bang in the ty- 
ing run. But Jennings wanted two runs so badly 
betook no chance of ** slugging" alone — slugging 
which might be fielded — bringing them in. He 
wanted a run to the good — not an extra inning 
tie. This was what he did: he put an extra *^yah 
— yah" on his battle-cry, ^^Eeee — yah!" and then 
pulled up a few more sprigs of grass, and he was 
all the while instructing by signals his two run- 
ners and Cobb that a ** delayed double steal" was 
the play. Cobb let the first ball go by. Bush 

19 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

did not take a great lead from second base, but 
Mclntyre dashed for second. Kleinow, New 
York's back-stop, hurled the ball to second. Mc- 
lntyre stopped midway, and Bush, with the catch- 
er's throw, sprinted full-speed for third. La 
Porte, the New York second baseman, had no one 




THE DELAYED DOUBLE STEAL. (SfiE PRBCBDmO PACE.) 



on whom to make a play. Bush had fled, and 
Mclntyre had not arrived! La Porte hesitated 
just a fraction of a second, then threw to Austin 
at third ; but the fraction of a second was enough 
for little Bush, who slid in under Austin's leg — 
safe! Meanwhile, of course, Mclntyre was on 
second. Then Cobb hit the next ball pitched for 
a single, two runs came in, the game was over, 
and Detroit had won! 
It took nerve, daring, generalship, to try a de- 

20 



BRAINS AS WELL AS SKILL 

layed double steal at that moment, and, probably 
because of its very unexpectedness, it succeeded. 
No blame could be attached to the New York team, 
to Kleinow, La Porte, or Austin. They were 
merely, in that one instance, outguessed, out- 
played — outgeneraled! In some other game, no 
doubt, they turned the tables on the Detroits by 
some equally clever or timely play. 

Warfare has its reserves. Many men went no 
nearer to a battle-field in the Spanish War than 
camp, but served no less because they did but 
''stand and wait." They were ready. They 
were in training. They were giving all their 
time and soul and energy to get ready to fight, 
march, capture, destroy, or protect, as their com- 
manding officer might command. They had lit- 
tle enough of the glory, but an army without re- 
serves would be fatally handicapped. So with a 
base-ball team. It has its reserves, its ''second 
string,'' its substitutes. Many a big League 
team carries pitchers all season who seldom or 
never start a game — but there they are, pitching 
to the batters before the game for practice, work- 
ing hard on the coaching lines, using their eyes, 
doing all they can to win for their team, though 

21 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

they may seldom toe the mound or rmi the paths. 
They must be ready to go in at any time, steady 
of nerve, confident in spite of the lack of confi- 
dence of their manager, which keeps them on the 
bench, able, in spite of lack of practice under 
fire, to do the work demanded of them. 

Will any one say that **Topsy" Hartzell, for 
years center-fielder of the Athletics, but in 1911 
not ** holding down" a regular position on the 
team, did not deserve his full share of the World ^s 
Series prize money? Always in condition, always 
ready to jump into the game at a moment's no- 
tice, always able (or almost always) to deliver a 
hit when, as pinch-hitter, he was called on to save 
a game, he surely contributed no little to the suc- 
cess which crowned the efforts of his team — yet 
the greater part of the time he was among the 
''reserves" of that particular ** base-ball army" 
— the most of the time he did but stand and wait. 

Will any one say that **Dode" Criss, the cele- 
brated '^pinch-hitter" of the St. Louis Browns, 
would not have deserved his share of prize-money, 
had they been champions? A pitcher who sel- 
dom pitched, a man who seldom stepped to bat 
more than once in a game, he was known as the 

22 



BEAINS AS WELL AS SKILL 

'^champion pinch-hitter'' of base-ball, the man 
most likely to make a hit when- it was wanted, and 
who was put in at the fag-end of the game to re- 
lieve a pitcher who had done his work, in the often 
sustained hope that he would ^^hit it out." Not- 
withstanding that he spent most of his time 
upon the bench, all who know either warfare or 
base-ball will admit that he **also served" while 
he sat and patiently waited for his chance ! 



23 



CHAPTER II 

Batting 

THERE are just two halves to the offense in 
a battle — getting there and fighting. The 
advantage is always with the side that gets there 
first and enjoys, a secure position while the enemy 
is but getting into position to fight. Students of 
warfare and strategy will point to Napoleon as 
the great exampler of this — the general who be- 
lieved in getting there first, if he was going to 
fight. 

There are just two halves to base-ball offense 
— ^^ getting on" and ^'getting home." Like Na- 
poleon and his generalship, the lad who can so 
engineer his base-ball campaign as to enable one 
player of his side to get on and get home first , im- 
mediately places the opposing team in the position 
of having to fight an uphill game and of having to 
dislodge the enemy from his commanding position 
before beginning to win on their own account. 

There are a number of ways to ^^get on" and 

24 



BATTING 

a number of ways to ^^get home.'' But the prin- 
cipal way to get on is to hit the ball yourself, and 
the principal way to get home is to have several 
of your fellow-players hit it, and make what is 
called a ^'safe hit." So that batting is at least 
half, if not two-thirds, of the offense in base-ball. 
The importance of good batters to a team can 
hardly be overestimated. It has been demon- 
strated that the finest defensive work, the clever- 
est ^4nside play,'' the most admirable general- 
ship, are often ineffective before a team of 
^^ heavy hitters." The three most recent in- 
stances, as many of you remember, are the three 
championships won in succession by the Detroit 
<< Tigers" in the American League, the fact that 
the Chicago ^^Cubs," considered the greatest ^in- 
side-ball" team ever put together, could not make 
even a good showing against a team like the Ath- 
letics, which insisted on pounding the ball far be- 
yond the confines of the infield and all its de- 
fensive play, and, the overwhelming defeat 
administered to the New York Giants, pennant 
winners in the National League in 1911, by the 
Philadelphia Athletics, pennant winners in the 
American League. 

25 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

Ask any fan who or what was responsible for 
the Athletics taking the World's Series and the 
reply will consist of a man's name — Baker. For 
while unquestionably the Athletics had, man for 
man, the better team, it is to Baker, Philadel- 
phia's hard hitting third baseman, that they owe 
much of their victory. 

Every World's Series has had its individual 
hero — more often than not, a most unexpected 
one. In 1903, when Pittsburgh and Boston fought 
it out, there was '*Bill" Dineen, now an umpire, 
with a laurel wreath to wear after it was over. 
Christy Mathewson — the undef eatable **Big Six" 
who went down to honorable defeat in 1911, 
starred in 1905 in the inter-league series, in which 
the Giants bested the Athletics. George Eohe, in 
the memorable championship battles between the 
two Chicago teams, in 1906, had his name writ 
large in newspaper headlines; John Kling, great 
catcher and '* Three Fingered" Brown, great 
pitcher, starred in the 1907 and 1908 battles be- 
tween Chicago and Detroit; **Babe" Adams of 
Pittsburgh got into the limelight in no uncertain 
manner when Pittsburgh won out in the 1909 se- 
ries with Detroit ; and Eddie Collins, second base- 

26 




"HOME-RUN" BAKER 
Who starred in the 1911 championship games 



BATTING 

man of the Philadelphia Athletics, by his hitting, 
fielding and great all-around playing, stood out 
preeminent among the Cub-Athletic players in 
the World's Series of 1910. 

And in 1911 it was Frank Baker, third base- 
man of the Athletics, whose hitting broke up 
game after game and whose two historic home 
runs played havoc with the Giants' chances for 
the championship. It is his hitting which gets 
him special mention here and now, for Baker 
learned to bat by batting, and has not only batted 
himself to fame but his club to a championship. 
No fluke home runs, these, for Baker made many 
in the season just passed. Eleven times in 1911 
he put the ball over the right field fence at Shibe 
Park in Philadelphia. Four other men have 
knocked balls over that fence — Baker has knocked 
fifteen altogether. But Baker did more than hit 
home runs in the inter-league series — he made 
several hits including a couple of two-baggers, and 
one of these, in the third game, earned him a 
tribute from the master pitcher of the game, 
Mathewson, such as comes to but few players in 
a lifetime. For when Baker came to bat for the 
third time in the third game, Mathewson, sick of 

29 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

the hits Baker had been making off his delivery, 
passed him to first base amid a pandemonium 
of noise which was hardly exceeded by the victo- 
rious cheer ending the entire series — deliberately 
gave four balls, in open acknowledgment that here 
was a man so certain to make at least a base hit, 
that the greatest pitcher the game has at the 
present day, who owns one of the wisest heads 
in base-ball, believed it better to present him with 
the equivalent of a single than take chances of 
another double, triple or one of those base-clear- 
ing home runs ! 

It was a great triumph for the batting game, 
and it is worthy of note that, when Baker makes 
his long, low hits, which have such terrific driving 
power behind them that they often hit the fence 
if they don't go clean over it, he does not draw 
his bat 'round to the small of his back and take a 
mighty swipe at the ball! Instead he hits with 
a short, jerky, sharp chop, with the power of 
shoulders and forearms as well as wrists and 
body-swing in the ball. By this short, sharp 
stroke he is able to hit at and connect with a ball 
at or near its point of ^^ breaking" (when the 
Qurve commences to show itself) and does not 

30 



BATTING 

have to begin his swing long before the ball 
reaches him, as do sluggers who follow the plan 
of making mighty lunges at the ball in huge wide 
sweeps of the bat. 

^^ Sluggers'' — men who swing the bat far be- 
hind them and around again in a mighty sweep, 
hit with all their force at the place where they 
believe the ball is going to be. If it is somewhere 
else, they either fail to hit it, or pop up a fly, 
make a foul or perhaps hit it where they least ex- 
pect it to go. Batters of the Baker type hit at 
the ball where they Unow it is, and consequently 
can the better gage what will happen to it after 
they hit it. The great ^^ place hitters" have al- 
ways been of the Baker type, hitting with short, 
sharp strokes of the bat. But, even so, place hit- 
ting is a rare faculty, as will be described later. 

Baker is not the hardest hitter base-ball has 
ever known, he is by no means at the top of the 
list of men who are most certain to make a hit 
(Tyrus Cobb had an 1911 average of .420, which 
means that he made forty-two hits out of every 
one hundred opportunities to make a hit) ; but 
Baker is to-day one of the most feared men in 
base-ball, simply because he hits well with men 

31 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

on bases, hits hard and long and is never wor- 
ried by crowds, talk, other players or over anxi- 
ety to hit the ball. 

There are many kinds of good batters. There 
are men like Lajoie of Cleveland and Wagner of 
Pittsburgh, who hit anything and everything, and 
make both long hits and short hits. There are 
men like Cobb of Detroit, who are credited with 
an astonishing number of ** singles'' — not be- 
cause they hit the ball so far, but because they 
get so quick a start and ^^beat it out" by speed 
alone. Cobb has often contended that his team- 
mate Crawford was his superior with the bat, al- 
though, of course, Cobb holds the higher average. 
The Georgia boy says the difference is in his legs ! 
There are men who hit better when hits are 
needed badly than at any other time, and who, 
like Dode Criss of the St. Louis ** Browns,*' or 
Tinker of the **Cubs," while not particularly 
high in the batting averages, are of great value to 
their team when ^ ' at bat, ' ' because of this ability. 
There are men who hit ** sacrifice flies" better 
than any other thing they do, men who **bunt" 
to perfection, and still others who, though not 
counted great batters, can almost always hit the 

32 





m / 




^ / 




J 


w 




-.^ 


-^v 




,^ 






i£^ 


pi 




L 


^^H 


w 


■■\' 


3- 


-^V 






TY COBB 


Universally admitted to be the greatest all-round ball-player 


the game has produced 



BATTING 

delivery of certain pitchers. And there are oc- 
casionally men like Ed Delehanty, the greatest 
batsman who has yet played the game, who hit 
anything and everything all the time. Delehanty 
once made four home runs and a single in five 
times ^^at bat'' in one game, a record which bids 
fair to stand forever! 

All these various kinds of batters have their 
place on the team. 

The arrangement of the batting order is an 
important part of a manager's or captain's work. 
Boys who organize a nine should follow the lead 
of the managers in the big Leagues, and arrange 
the batting order solely and entirely for the sake 
of getting the greatest number of runs. The 
first man up should be a good ^* waiter," a good 
hitter, a very fast man, and a very *' heady" man. 
When Chicago played Philadelphia for the 
World's Championship, Sheckard of the Chicago 
**Cubs" led for his team, followed by Schulte, 
then Hofman, and then Chance. The Athletics 
put Strunk first, had Lord follow him, then came 
Collins, and then Baker. 

The idea, of course, is that the first two men 
will, one or the other, or both, **get on" first 

35 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

base some way! Then will come two men who 
will either hit the ball hard and thus bring the 
runners round the diamond, or play the ^^hit and 
run'' in order to make a score. But, be it noted, 
it frequently happens that the first man gets on, 
and — with no score, or a tied score or a one-run 
lead, or when one run behind and the game not 
too far advanced — the correct play is to make a 
^* sacrifice" hit; hence, batter No. 2 should be a 
clever ^'bunter.'' During a part of the season 
of 1910, Killifer came after Milan in the Wash- 
ington line-up, and in one game distinguished 
himself by making five perfect sacrifice bunts in 
five times up, every time advancing Milan to sec- 
ond, although getting thrown out himself ! 

Of course the batting order will not always 
*^come right,'' but it will usually be at its best 
three times in a game, hence its arrangement is 
of the greatest importance. Note well that while 
the pitcher almost invariably is at the bottom of 
the list in a League team, he must not necessarily 
be so in a boys' team. If you have but one 
pitcher, play him where his batting ability war- 
rants his being put, regardless of ^^big League" 
practice, which is occasioned by many circum- 

36 



BATTING 

stances that do not enter into a boys' game — one 
of them, for instance, being the great number of 
pitchers carried in the clubs of the major 
Leagues. 

The way to learn to bat is to bat ! There is no 
other way. But there are right and wrong ways 
of trying to bat. First of all, it is necessary to 
^* stand to the plate." The player who gets three 
feet away and ^^ reaches in'' after balls is neither 
going to hit hard nor often. It is seldom that a 
batter is hit hard enough by a pitched ball to 
hurt him; if he is quick enough to bring his bat 
against the ball before it gets by, he should be 
quick enough to get out of the way of one which 
comes at him. Neither will it do to stand prop- 
erly at the plate and yet ^^puU away" from it as 
the ball goes by. Even if you hit the ball, the 
very act of ^^ pulling" will decrease the force of 
your blow, and if you are a right-hand hitter, 
** pulling" starts you away from first base instead 
of toward it. Left-hand hitters, too, must guard 
against ** pulling away," since their eagerness to 
be off for first base often causes them to lean to- 
ward the base as the ball is delivered. 

Pitchers soon discover this weakness, and put 

37 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

the ball on the extreme outside corner of the plate 
from the batter, with the result that he *^fans'' 
time after time. A sad example is found in the 
case of *^Red'' Walker, of Washington, a player 
who seemed a terror at the bat in the spring of 
1911, but who developed the pulling habit so 
badly as almost entirely to destroy his value to 
his club. 

Stand naturally, easily, with your feet to- 
gether, if you can. Cobb and Lajoie — the 
American League batting leaders, the former 
champion with an average of .420, the latter ex- 
champion with a one-time average of .422 — both 
stand easily, naturally, and swing with only mod- 
erate freedom at the ball. 

**The great batters of our time," said Cobb, 
in an interview, *^hold their bats a foot from the 
end, and, instead of swinging hard, aim to meet 
the ball flush. I like to * swing,' but I can't af- 
ford to. So I stick to the sure system of meeting 
the ball *fair' with a half-way grip on my bat." 

Wagner of Pittsburgh, who is a terror to pitch- 
ers, stands with his feet more widely apart, and 
so do hosts of other good batters. Moreover, 
attempts to change the individual ** style" of a 

38 



BATTING 

batter are often fatal to his hitting; therefore, 
try to adopt a good style while you can, for if 
you get to standing awkwardly and play that way 
very often, an attempt to change may result in 
disaster to your average. 

Whatever you do, don't try to use a bat which 
is too heavy for you. Perhaps there is no one 
thing that more retards a boy's game of ball, his 
development of skill, and his success as a player 
than his attempt to do everything the big League 
player does, merely because he does it, and with- 
out regard to the difference in age, strength, and 
size. (See Chapter VIII on ^^ Drill, Battlefield 
and Arms.'') There may be a boy on your team 
who has Cobb for his favorite; you see him buy- 
ing a **Cobb" bat, long and slender, and trying 
to use it, although it is almost as big as he is! 
Some one who makes Anson, formerly of Chi- 
cago, or the '^scrappy" little former New York 
player, *^Kid" Elberfeld, his model, gets hold of 
a regular *Var-club," thick, heavy, and short, — 
and finds he is hitting at the ball long after it has 
gone by ! Choose your bat according to your size 
and strength; get one you can swing quickly, vig- 
orously; and don't make the mistake of thinking 

39 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

a big club means lots of hits; it doesn't. If it 
did, every man playing would get the largest and 
heaviest bat he could carry. And hold it as 
seems natural to you, whether ^^ choked'' (that is, 
held some little way from the end) or right down 
on the end. Learn how you can hold the bat to 
make a bunt with the most certainty, and learn 
to take that hold instantly, and as the ball is 
pitched. To show the pitcher and the rest of the 
team that you are going to bunt by holding the 
bat as if for a bunt before the ball is pitched, is 
fatal to your success. 

Learn to look at the pitcher all the time. This 
means while you are on the bench as well as 
when at the plate. A great part of the art of 
pitching consists in delivering all kinds of balls, 
fast, slow, curve, and straight, with, as nearly as 
possible, the same ^'motion." The better this 
can be done, the more effective the pitcher. But 
many pitchers, and particularly boys who have 
yet to learn all the art, have a different ^'motion" 
when pitching a curve from that which they use 
when pitching straight and fast. If you can 
learn this difference, you can the better judge, 
when at the plate, what is coming- Hence the 

40 



BATTING 

advice to focus your eyes upon the opposing 
pitcher at all times. 

Learn by constant practice to let the wide curve 
go by and to hit at the one that you think is go- 
ing to be good; learn to judge the low ones and 
refuse to ^^bite^' on those which are just teas- 
ingly near; and don't be afraid of getting two 
strikes called on you. **It only takes one, you 
know/' as the coachers say; a hit made from the 
seventh ball pitched is just as good as one made 
from the first. And don't be afraid of striking 
out. Players who fear or hate to be struck out 
are tempting bait for the pitcher's art; they get 
the reputation of hitting at everything after two 
strikes are called, and are often made to ^^pop 
up" fouls or hit easy grounders by having served 
to them a ball which the pitcher would never risk 
on a cool-headed batter who knows how to wait 
for four balls. 

Don't quarrel with the umpire because he calls 
*' strike" when you let it go by because you 
thought it was going to be a *^ball." He will 
make mistakes, because he is human. But it 
spoils the game to have any bickering — you know 
what happens in a big League game when some 

41 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

one disputes too vigorously the correctness of a 
called ball or strike ! 

And last, but not least, learn to **pull in'' a 
swing at the ball. This is distinct from ** pulling 
away. " It is the art of starting a swing at a ball 
which '* looks good," and curling the bat up in 
the arms when you see it is going to be bad, 
without making enough of a swing at it to make 
the umpire call a strike from your motion. 
Watch Chance, Crawford, Clarke, or **Eed" 
Dooin, and see the artistic way in which they fail 
to hit even after they have started to! They 
have a ^'near strike" which is like the *'near 
balk" of some pitchers — deceptive, but allow- 
able! 

Unless ordered to the contrary by the captain, 
your business, if there is no one on the bases, is 
to *'get on." There are various ways. You can 
get to first base by ** waiting out" the pitcher and 
getting four balls; by being ** accidentally" hit 
with the ball; by an error in fielding, or by the 
catcher's drop of a third strike, and your ** beat- 
ing out the throw " ; by making a hit which may 
and may not be so scored (a '^scratch hit," as it 
is called) ; and, of course, by a clean base-hit. 

42 



BATTING 

You have no business to try to get on by de- 
liberately allowing yourself to get hit with the 
ball. In the first place, it isn't, strictly speak- 
ing, fair. The rule permitting men to take first 
base when struck is designed to make the pitch- 
ers careful. It is not intended as a weapon of 
offense in the batter's hand. Jennings of the fa- 
mous Baltimore Orioles (now manager for the 
Detroit team) used it as such a weapon of of- 
fense and did it so artistically and so often, that 
the rule was amended to its present form, 
whereby a batter must satisfy the umpire that 
he did not get hit on purpose, by making some 
obvious move to avoid the ball, before he can 
be allowed to take first because of being so 
struck. In the second place, it is dangerous, 
particularly to boys, who, naturally, have less 
skill in handling their bodies than grown 
men. So, if you are wise, you will not imi- 
tate those men in the big Leagues who have 
the reputation of being able to **get hit" so 
artistically that the umpire thinks they couldn't 
help it! Sometimes men overdo this in the big 
Leagues, in spite of the rule, and get the name of 
constantly trying to get hit, and so the umpires 

43 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

won't give them bases when they really are hit 
accidentally I Such a man was Ganley, of the 
Athletics, and things finally came to such a pass 
with him that, even when legitimately entitled to 
his base for being hit, he wouldn't move until the 
umpire ordered him to go ! 

It is needless to say that ''getting on" is vital 
to scoring, for of course no one can score unless 
he reaches first base safely in some way. And 
with a player once there, his side's chances of 
scoring are enormously increased, not only by 
having the man on base to do the scoring, but by 
''tying up" fielders so that they can't work as 
effectively to put succeeding batsmen out. The 
first baseman, with no one on, plays for the bat- 
ter. He gets where he thinks a hit will come, or 
where he can field it. And short-stop and sec- 
ond baseman play their positions to cover as 
much ground as possible. 

But, once let a man gain first base, and the 
baseman is held to the bag until the pitcher be- 
gins to "wind up," and either short-stop or sec- 
ond baseman must remain where he can reach 
second base to take a throw from the catcher, to 
stop a steal, or to receive a fielded ball to catch 

44 



BATTING 

the man coming down from first. Consequently 
the second man at the bat has a much greater op- 
portunity to make a hit than the first, provided 
No. 1 **gets on.'' It is for this reason, as well 
as others, that the first man up should be a **good 
waiter'' and should be able to have two strikes 
and no balls called on him without getting nerv- 
ous about letting a couple of **bad ones" go by. 

And it is for this reason, too, that the first man 
should be a fast runner, since he will make first 
often on a slight error, such as a juggle or 
**boot" of the ball, where a slower man would 
fail. And never, never, never fail to **run it 
out," no matter how hopeless the chance may 
seem ! Nine times out of ten, a fielded ball may 
beat you to the base ; but the tenth time some one 
makes an error, and — you may score. There was 
a striking example of this recently in a game be- 
tween the Detroits and the Washingtons in the 
American League. Washington was one run be- 
hind, the sixth inning, and at bat. There was a 
storm coming, one of those sudden, heavy thun- 
der-storms that make a base-ball field a lake 
within five minutes. Detroit was ** stalling" for 
time and Washington playing its fastest. Wash- 

47 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

ington tied the score, getting two men out and a 
man on third in the process ; Detroit was raving, 
and Jennings, their manager, doing war-dances 
in the coacher's box. 

The man at bat for Washington had the crowd 
with him — it was a big crowd, too. And he hit 
the ball ! He hit it straight at little Owen Bush, 
who, ordinarily, is one of the best and most ac- 
curate short-stops of the League. Washington's 
batter felt that he was * ' out, " to a certainty — that 
there wasn't a chance for him to get to first. 
The man on third trotted home, just as a formal- 
ity, since the third **out" at first would make his 
crossing the plate of no avail. But the Wash- 
ington batter **ran out" his hit. He ran hard, 
too, as if he meant it. And Bush, with plenty of 
time for the throw, nervously threw the ball ^ve 
feet above the first baseman's extended hand, — 
whereupon the Washington runner danced on the 
base and waved his cap, the man on third trotted 
'*home" with the winning run, the crowd went 
wild, and the next batter got himself put out in 
the shortest possible order. And then the rain 
came down in torrents and deluges, and there 
was no more playing that afternoon! But that 

48 



BATTING 

one wild throw gave the game to Washington. 

Had the batter failed to run out his hit, had he 
turned half-way down the path and walked to the 
bench — well, he didn't! And don't you, either; 
*^run thdm out," no matter how hopeless the 
prospect seems. In the big Leagues they fine 
men who don't run them out, and if the mana- 
gers think it 's worth that much attention, be sure 
there is good reason back of it ! 

Don't bother with trying to learn *^ place hit- 
ting" or ** batting to the opening." 

**Hit 'em where he ain't," said McGraw to 
Bridwell of the ** Giants," referring to little 
Johnny Evers of the '*Cubs." 

*'I do, but he 's always there," was the mourn- 
ful reply. 

The joke is an old one and told of others. But 
it 's true. Evers, Colliils, Wagner, Tinker, a 
dozen fine short-stops and second basemen are 
** always there." But even if they were *^ never 
there," it isn't one man in a thousand who can 
*^ place his hits." Keeler— *^Wee Willie"— had 
the art in such perfection that he could hit to 
right or left field at will; the incomparable Hal 
Chase is known as a superb **hit and run" bat- 

49 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

ter, because lie can ^^pulP' the ball toward the 
opening; but the faculty is rare, so rare that it 
is positive it cannot be developed by practice. It 
comes naturally or not at all. Therefore, don't 
bother with it. Hit naturally, hit as nature says 
you should, and don't bother about *^ trying to 
find the holes." 

This, of course, doesn't mean you are to place 
yourself so you always hit fouls or grounders; it 
does mean that you needn't bother to shift your 
hands, feet, and bat with every kaleidoscopic 
change of position by fielders, with the idea that 
you can *^ place hit," for generally speaking you 
can't, and it isn't worth while to spend time try- 
ing to do what big League players would give 
their ears to do, but cannot accomplish. 

Learn to hit a long fly; learn to hit a bunt. 
There is little to be said as to how to learn ex- 
cept what has been stated, *^The way to learn to 
bat is to bat." But knowing how to hit ** under 
the pitch" so as to knock a fly, in distinction to 
hitting ^^over the pitch" so as to knock them 
down on the ground, may be of great value, since 
a man on third, with less than two out, is a fre- 
quent occurrence, and long flies generally are 

50 



BATTING 

easier to make than are *^ hits'' proper. And the 
man who cannot bunt when a bunt is the proper 
thing to play is a handicap to his team. *^ Lay- 
ing them down'' (a plain, sacrifice bunt) and 
* Spoking them out" (a force bunt) are both vital 
to success in many instances, and he who can 
*^put 'em down the third-base line" or the first- 
base line, according as there may be a man on 
first or third, may do more to win than he who 
can pound out a hit often, and fail when it is 
most needed. 

The real reason why men who hold high bat- 
ting averages in the minor Leagues fail in major 
Leagues is not so much the difference in pitch- 
ing; it is because in minor Leagues a player very 
often hits for himself, hits the ball he wants to 
hit. In major Leagues, on the contrary, he has 
often to hit the ball — or try to — when he is told to 
hit and not at other times. Consequently, hit- 
ting at the ball called for by the manager's sig- 
nal is vital in practice as well as in games, and 
you should train yourself to reach for a ^^wide 
one" and attempt to knock it down, anyhow, as 
well as to let such balls go by when it is right to 
do so. If the catcher *^ outguesses" you on the 

51 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

**hit and run" signal, and calls for a wide ball, 
hit it, — hit at it, anyhow, — just to give the run- 
ner, who is depending on you, all the aid you can. 

Lajoie says, speaking of the *^hit and run" 
play: **Even if I know I am going to miss the 
ball, I swing hard at it, to cause the catcher to 
lose a step or a foot or two of ground in making 
his throw, and in that way help the runner." 

Wagner, greatest of batters in the National 
League, has such control of his bat, such remark- 
able reach, and such an ^*eye," that he hits 
'* waste" balls almost as well as fast ones, and 
no '* curves" fool him. They tell a little story 
of a new pitcher whom a National League team 
had secured, who had received from some one a 
little book with notes in it of the kind of balls to 
pitch to opposing batsmen, according to their 
habit of batting. The first time he pitched 
against Pittsburgh, he consulted this book. 
'*Let me see what I must pitch to Wagner," he 
said, but looked blankly enough at the entry in 
the little book: ** Wagner — give him a base on 
balls!" 

Though you must keep your eye on the pitcher 
when he pitches, you must learn to look for your 

52 



BATTING 

signals from the manager or captain, as, even 
though you may step to the plate with certain in- 
structions, they may be changed after you get 
there. You must also find time to transmit the 
signal, if it comes to you, so that the runner will 
know what you are going to do. For instance, 
the man ahead of you is on first, and you come to 
the plate with the orders to hit the third ball, for 
the ^^hit and run.'' But after the second ball is 
pitched and two balls have been called, your cap- 
tain has reason to believe the next one will be 
** wasted,'' because the other side will guess that 
here is a good chance for you to play the **hit and 
run." (By ^* wasting" the ball, the catcher hopes 
to be able to catch the runner stealing and per- 
haps help to put you out, too, by having you 
strike at something from which you can't possi- 
bly make a **hit.") So your captain lifts his cap 
or pats his knee, or whatever the signal may be, 
and you bang the plate four times with your bat, 
showing the runner you have been signaled to 
hit the fourth ball pitched. 

Signals and signal systems will be taken up in 
detail later, but get the idea now firmly fixed in 
your mind that you have other duties at the plate 

53 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

besides merely watching the pitcher and hitting 
the ball. ** Team-work'' is all important in bat- 
ting. 

Don't be discouraged if you have a ** slump" 
in your batting record. Larry Lajoie, whose 
prowess entitles him to consideration when 
speaking of batting, says a ** slump" is all luck. 
He contends, and with good reason, that if he 
hits the ball ten days in succession right into va- 
rious-fielders' hands every time, he is a ** victim 
of circumstances." The next ten days he may 
hit the ball no more and no harder, but they all 
go just outside some fielder's reach. The first 
ten days he is reported by the papers as in a 
*^ slump"; the next, ^* batting like a fiend," yet 
he himself says he has not varied in hitting the 
ball at any time. 

Don't do much *^fungo hitting (batting flies 
with a ball which you toss into the air yourself). 
It ruins you for batting at fast balls. Note that, 
in preliminary practice in big Leagues, it is al- 
most invariably a pitcher, who can't hit anyhow, 
who does the fungo hitting. Why? Because no 
one else wants to hurt his hitting ability. For 
the same reason, don't practise batting by hitting 

54 



BATTING 

at easy pitching, merely for the fun of hitting the 
ball hard. If you learn to hit little easy, soft 
balls, you train eye and hand for them alone, and 
when the opposing pitcher is a lad who really 
can curve them in or send them over fast, you 
are all at sea. 

Old Captain Anson (not old then) when he was 
at the height of his glory as the greatest batter 
of his time and the leading light of base-ball, 
often said that the secret of his ability to lead 
his League in batting for so many years, was his 
constant practice day after day, morning after 
morning, even evening after evening, after the 
game was over, batting, batting, forever batting 
at the offerings of any one he could get to pitch 
to him, until the sight of a ball coming towards 
him to be hit was as familiar as that of the feel 
of the bat in his hand, and both had become sec- 
ond nature. 

Kemember, then, the way to learn to bat, flies, 
bunts, hits, chops, is to bat! Practise, practise, 
practise. You don't see them, these big Leag- 
uers, but they are at it every day, in the morn- 
ing, trying to *^ improve the eye'' by practising 
batting I Practise whenever you can get some 

57 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

one to pitch to you, and strive always to **meet 
the ball fair," to make a clean hit, rather than 
to ** knock the cover off it," or to **lift it over 
the fence." Games are won with singles more 
often than with home runs; the little light man, 
who seldom hits for extra bases, but who bats to 
an average .290, is of far more value to his team 
than the ** slugger" who always hits for extra 
bases when he does hit, but who very seldom 
makes a hit! 



58 



CHAPTER III 

Base-running 

BATTING, as we have seen, is half the of- 
fense in the battle of base-ball; base-run- 
ning is the other half. For no matter how many- 
hits are made, if the runner runs so carelessly 
that he is put out before he gets home, the hits 
themselves count for nothing in the final score. 
And while it is highly important to make hits, it 
is folly to depend only on hits for the making of 
runs, and to ignore that part of the art of ball- 
playing which often turns a few hits into many 
runs. 

But before you can do any base-running, you 
must get on first base — no matter how. The 
rules permit a runner making first to overrun the 
base as far as he will in a straight line and re- 
turn to it, but do not apply in this way to any 
other base, which is the reason why sliding is 
seldom necessary at first and often required at 
other bases. The slide makes a quick stop pos- 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

sible, and the quick stop is necessary at second 
and third, but not at first base. 

Once started towards first base, and you be- 
come a base-runner in the true sense of the word. 
As soon as you get on first you have several 
things to do, and all at once. 

IJot only must you be prepared to advance to 
second base on the crack of the bat of the man 
who follows you in the batting order — you must 
be ready to ^^steaP' second at the first opportu- 
nity, to play the *^hit and run'' on a signal, and 
at the same time you must watch that you are 
not '* picked off" at first by an alert pitcher, 
catcher, and first baseman, that you are not the 
victim of the ^^hidden-ball" trick, and all the 
while you must aid the batsman by worrying the 
pitcher as much as possible, by keeping as long 
a lead from the base as you can with safety, and 
drawing as many throws from the pitcher as pos- 
sible, to tire his arm and distract his attention 
from the batsman as much as you can. 

Only practice will show you how far you can 
^^lead" off first base with the prospects of get- 
ting back before the ball gets there when they 
try to ^^nip" you. And you can do it much bet- 

60 



BASE-KUNNING 

ter and farther with some pitchers than with 
others. Left-handed pitchers are, as a rule, 
harder to ^^take a lead from" than right-hand- 
ers, because they can appear to be going to pitch 
to the batter when they are actually going to 
throw to first base, much more easily than can 
right-handers. 

All good pitchers will try to *^hold you to. the 
base'' by frequent throws to the baseman, which 
will make you scamper back — perhaps slide back 
— to the bag. But the instant the ball is returned 
to the pitcher, you should take your lead again. 
The more often he has to throw to first, the bet- 
ter for you and the batsman, since every throw 
distracts his attention from the batter. More- 
over, he will have to pitch quickly, and the less 
time he has to devote to his '^motion,'' the harder 
it is for him to pitch accurately. 

And watch the hall! The hidden-ball trick is 
an example of the importance of watching it. 
You have a lead from first. The pitcher throws 
to first, and you make a headlong or feet-first 
slide for the bag. The first baseman gathers the 
ball in his mit, and makes a throwing motion with 
his right hand, but retains the ball in his mit. 

61 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

Yon, on the ground, feel the motion of his arm, 
or see it, dimly, out of the corner of your eye. 
You think the hall has been returned to the 
pitcher and get up and dust yourself off. While 
doing this, you may step one foot off the bag. 
**Bang!'' and that ball is in your ribs. **Out!" 
says the umpire — the fans laugh at you, your side 
scolds you, and the other side chuckles! It is a 
good plan to stay right where you are, on the 
bag, until you see the ball in the pitcher's hands. 
Even old ball-players are fooled with the hid- 
den-ball trick once in a while. Perhaps the most 
remarkable example of the trick occurred in a 
game between the ** Giants" and *^Cubs" in 1910. 
All base-ball fans know of the * ' Merkle incident, ' ' 
which will be described at length in a later 
chapter. For the present, suffice it to say 
that Merkle, of New York, failed to touch second 
base in a most important game in 1909, and was 
called out when Evers, of Chicago, got the ball 
and claimed a force-out. The decision made the 
game a tie, and when it was played off, New York 
lost it, and, by its loss, the pennant. Just a 
year later in a game with New York, Evers got 
to first base on a pass, and took his usual dancing 

62 



BASE-RUNNING 

lead. The pitcher threw to drive him back to 
base. Evers slid to the bag, safely enough. 
Merkle went through the time-worn motion of 
throwing, holding the ball all the while. Evers 
got up, shook himself, took his foot from the bag, 
and — Merkle touched him with the ball, with 
what satisfaction may be imagined ! The umpire 
saw the play; joy among the fans! It wasn't 
much of a revenge, from Merkle 's standpoint, but 
the chaffing Evers, the cleverest of players, re- 
ceived for thus being * * shown up ' ' must have been 
balm to Merkle 's heart ! 

The length of your lead from first is governed, 
too, by the fact of there being a man **on the 
paths" ahead of you. If there is a man on sec- 
ond while you are on first, the first baseman will 
play deep or wide — away from his bag. The 
*^play," when it is made, will in all probability 
be at second or third base. All the defense will 
try to **get" the leading man, instead of you. 
Consequently you can play with a much greater 
lead than when the first baseman is on the bag. 
But you cannot afford to relax your watchful- 
ness. And here is where the first-base coacher 
is so handy, for you can watch him and learn 

63 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

where the first baseman is, much more easily than 
you can watch the baseman. 

When you take a lead from second base, the 
same principles apply. The second baseman and 
short-stop will neither play close to the bag nor 
on it, as the first baseman does with only one 
man ^^on the paths," and that man on his sack. 
A pitcher cannot turn completely round and 
throw to second base to catch a runner off the 
bag, without giving considerable warning of his 
intentions. So he won't do it unless you have a 
big lead. While on first base, you have only the 
pitcher and catcher to watch — the man with the 
ball. To see whether or not you are to be 
'* nipped" on second base, you must watch both 
short-stop and second baseman, pitcher and 
catcher. You can safely take as long a lead from 
second base as the nearest player has stepped 
from it. But just because of your long lead, the 
pitcher will try to get you by a trick. He will 
get a signal from somewhere; short-stop or sec- 
ond baseman will run swiftly into the bag; the 
pitcher will whirl and send the ball almost with- 
out looking, and, if you have been ** caught nap- 
ping," you will find the ball waiting for you in 

64 




SUCCESSFUL STEAL HOME 





JOHNSON HAS JUST RELEASED JOHXSON HAS JUST FINISHED 

A CURVE PITCHING 

Walter Johnson of Washington (American League), the beloved " Idaho 
Wonder," whose speed is said to be greater than that of Amos Rusie 



BASE-RUNNING 

the hands of a laughing player whom you thought 
fifty feet away! So watch the baseman, the 
short-stop, the third-base coacher, and the 
pitcher, when you take a long lead for third. 

And don't forget that little, seldom-needed, but 
vital rule of base-ball, ^*A base-runner struck 
with a batted ball is out." Watch the ball when 
it is hit. If it 's a grounder crossing your path, 
see that it doesn't hit your legs. Jump over it, 
wait for it to go by, do anything, but don't let it 
touch you. But once the ball is by you — forget 
it. Put your head down and run! Don't try to 
see where the ball has gone, unless it is a fly. De- 
pend on the coachers. They are there for that 
purpose. The fraction of a second it takes you 
to look over your shoulder for the ball may 
mean the difference between **safe" and out. 
And don't run on high flies more than half-way 
— be sure the fly isn't going to be caught before 
you tear round the bases, unless, of course, there 
are two out, when it makes no difference, since, 
if the ball is caught, the side is out, and if it is n't 
caught, you may score if you can beat the b^l. 
Hence, with two out, run, whether the ball is a 
fly or a grounder. 

67 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

When you run more than one base at a time, 
you must remember that the fraction of a sec- 
ond which you may lose or gain, en route, by any 
calculation, speed, skill, or the lack of them, 
means the difference between good and ** bone- 
head'' base-running. The mere matter of turn- 
ing the bag, that is, rounding the corner, may 
have a vital importance. 

Stretching a one-base hit into a two-bagger, or 
a two-bagger into three, running wild on the 
bases, in other words, is spectacular, and fre- 
quently good base-ball. In this game, as in every 
other athletic game, daring, courage, and nerve 
often succeed. The very unexpectedness of the 
attempt to get an extra base, even where it looks 
foolhardy, will often insure success. But there 
are times when spectacular base-ball, even if suc- 
cessful, is foolish. For instance, what good is it 
to make second base, by a hair, on a single, when 
there are two out, in the ninth inning, and a big 
score against you? In such circumstances, the 
only thing which can help is a batting rally, and 
if ^the next man ''at bat'' is going to start the 
rally, you are just as well off on first as on sec- 
ond. And, by stretching your single into a dou- 

68 



BASE-EUNNING 

ble, you run a great risk of being, yourself, the 
third ^^out,'' and thus nipping all chances for a 
rally ! 

But, if the score were tied, or you were only 
one or two runs behind, that is a time to play the 
spectacular game — to run the extra base — to take 
instant advantage of every careless move. 
*'Ty" Cobb, the famous Detroit outfielder, the 
most spectacular base-runner in either League, 
frequently gets put out, taking chances. But, 
much more frequently, he ^* makes good" with his 
long chances, and turns scratches into singles, 
singles into doubles, and doubles into triples and 
home runs by his bold playing. 

An instance when daring base-running suc- 
ceeded by its unexpectedness was presented in 
the second game of the World's Series of 1910 
between the Champion Chicago ^^Cubs" and the 
Champion Philadelphia Athletics. The **Cubs" 
had scored and were ahead up to the third in- 
ning — strange to say, the Athletics were encour- 
aged by being scored upon, since they had well 
noted throughout the year that whenever Coombs, 
who was pitching that day, was scored upon early 
in the contest, he invariably won. In the third 

69 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

inning, the Athletics had Thomas on third, Lord 
on first, and two out. Collins, the whirlwind sec- 
ond baseman of the Athletics, was at bat. He 
sent a sharp line-drive just inside third base, and 
reached second base. Thomas, of course, scored. 
Every one expected Lord, who had come from 
first base, to stop on third, as the ball was already 
on its way to Steinfeldt, Chicago's third base- 
man, from the outfield. But Lord kept right on, 
full-tilt, for the plate. ^'Steiny," taken by sur- 
prise, made a desperate effort to touch Lord, and 
— dropped the ball! Lord scored, and the Ath- 
letics were not headed thereafter in that game ! 

The question of stealing bases — ^which is the 
best part of the art of base-running, and the most 
spectacular feature of the game — ^is one to be 
considered from more than one point of view. 
The average young ball-player, if you ask him 
when he should steal a base, will probably an- 
swer, **Any time you get a chance !'* But unless 
he qualified the ^^any" time with the words ^^good 
chance," he would be wrong. ** Inside ball" 
teaches players that base-stealing must be con- 
sidered with reference to the score, to the num- 
ber of innings yet to be played, the number of 

70 



BASE-EUNNING 

men out at the time, and the batting order. For 
instance, with a man on first and third, the temp- 
tation for the man on first to steal second is very 
strong. He knows he can take a big lead, be- 
cause the first baseman will be playing for the 
batter, and not for him. He knows that if he can 
draw a throw from the catcher to second base at 
a time when the man on third has a good lead 
toward home, and make the bag, the man on third 
will probably be successful in stealing home, 
making the play a double steal. But suppose two 
men are out I Then if the stealer from first base 
is caught, the side is out, and the run does not 
count. If it is the eighth or ninth inning, and a 
run is needed to tie the score or win the game, 
and the batter is weak, then the attempt to steal 
second with two out, and a man on third, may be 
justifiable, since the situation is acute. But if 
the batter is strong, then it may be unwise to 
risk the steal, because you know all the atten- 
tion will be directed to getting you, coming in to 
second, and it is at least possible that the man 
at bat will make a hit, scoring the man on third. 
With less than two out, the man on first should 
always try to steal with a man on third, for then 

71 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

the attention of the defense will be largely di- 
rected to the man on third base, and your chances 
of getting second base are good. If they try to 
put you out at second, the man on third is almost 
sure to score ; if they hold him to his bag, you are 
almost certain to be safe at second! The de- 
fense to this play will be taken up later, but, in 
considering it now as an offensive play and part 
of good base-running, always remember to think 
of the number of men who are out, the probabili- 
ties of the man at the bat making a hit — which in- 
cludes his previous performance against the op- 
posing pitcher— the score, and whether the situa- 
tion is normal, desperate, or just balanced be- 
tween, and govern your actions accordingly. 

The base-runner who gets on first and just 
waits to be *^ batted round'' the circuit is playing 
very safe, but very poor base-ball. The standard 
play, with no score, and a man on first, is a sac- 
rifice hit — if you can steal second, the sacrifice 
will put you on third instead, with but one man 
out! And if one man is out, and you are on 
first, and no one else is ^'on," how important to 
steal second, so that your side's situation is no 
worse than if you had been sacrificed to second! 

72 



BASE-EUNNING 

If two are out, you simply must steal second, un- 
less heavy hitters follow you, whose prospects 
are good for a hit, otherwise it is almost certain 
the side will be retired without a score. If the 
score is heavily against you near the end of the 
game, a stolen base or so is of little value; it 
takes heavy hitting and lots of it to make up that 
lead you are struggling against. If the lead is 
but one or two runs, however, then your case is 
desperate but full of hope, and a certain reck- 
lessness and chance-taking is indicated on the 
paths. 

How important a steal of second may be is 
shown by the record of the fourth game in the 
World's Series for 1910. Sheckard, the hard- 
hitting, fast-running left-fielder of the Chicago 
*^Cubs," drew a base on balls, and while Schulte, 
of Chicago, was busily engaged in striking out, 
Sheckard stole second base cleanly. Of course 
the crowd went crazy. But they had something 
better to get crazy about the next minute, for 
Sheckard scored on Hof man's single. In other 
words, a score resulted from a pass and a lone 
hit, because Sheckard stole second! The next 
two men were out in short order. Had Sheckard 

73 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

not stolen that base, but waited for Hof man's 
single to advance him to second, he would have 
died there, and the inning been without a score. 
As the final score was four to three, in favor of 
Chicago, on that one stolen base the winning of 
the game depended. Had that run not been 
made, the contest might have had to go many ex- 
tra innings, instead of the one extra it did go, 
and while the result might have been the same — 
it might have been different ! In which case the 
humiliation for Chicago of the Athletics' win- 
ning four straight games in a World's Champion- 
ship would have happened ! 

Do you imagine the Chicago fans approved of 
Sheckard? Well, rather. 

Stealing third is less often accomplished than 
stealing second, for several reasons — the shorter 
distance from catcher to third base compared 
with the distance from catcher to second base 
being one, and the fact that this act of piracy 
usually succeeds only through sheer audacity, be- 
ing another. To offset this is the larger lead you 
can take from second base. It will largely de- 
pend on where the third baseman is playing, 
whether or not you can try to steal third. If he 

74 




(■■■■■i 



CAUGHT OFF SECOND BASE 



^i fm^^^^^m-' 



-^ 




OUT, ON FIRST!' A CLOSE DECISION 



BASE-EUNNING 

is playing in for a bunt, you have a better chance 
than if he is playing deep, since, if playing in, 
he cannot as well see you coming nor get back to 
the bag to take the throw from the catcher as 
quickly as he can see and run in when playing 
deep. On the other hand, the score and the in- 
nings and the number of men out must be con- 
sidered in stealing third, just as in stealing sec- 
ond, only if two are out, it makes less difference 
whether you steal third or not than it would if 
you were on first and wanted second. You can 
probably score from second, if you are fast, on 
any real hit — and you cannot score from third on 
a ^Hhird out'' anyhow. 

Stealing home is a fascinating play. It has 
two variations — one the *^ squeeze'' play, which 
will be taken up later, and the other, the straight 
steal of home. It may be accomplished at times 
when a pitcher takes a long *' wind-up "—it may 
be when a passed ball or a wild pitch allows you 
to gain the plate (although under such circum- 
stances, of course, you do not get credit for a 
** steal"), or it may be by sheer speed and nerve, 
surprising the catcher so that you slide right into 
his feet even while he has the ball, before he 

77 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

thinks to touch yon. But it is a risky play, and 
is for either a very desperate situation indeed, as 
when two are out, and it is almost certain the bat- 
ter will strike out, or when you are so far in the 
lead you can afford to take chances. 

Stealing any base is often done on slow catch- 
ers by watching them and seeing when they throw 
back the ball to the pitcher slowly or carelessly. 
The steal then becomes a ** delayed steaP' — ^you 
have delayed it until the catcher is off his guard. 
Another form of ** delayed steal" which not infre- 
quently succeeds, is that accomplished by taking a 
big lead from first, on a run, stopping short just 
for an instant, drawing the throw from the 
catcher to first, and then diving for second ! It is 
then a race between you and the second baseman 
or short-stop — the first baseman cannot throw the 
ball until some one is on the second bag to take 
the throw, and unless both first baseman and man 
covering the second bag work like clockwork, the 
chances are you can slide into second safely. 

Double steals are what their name implies — a 
stealing of two bases at once. Of course, when 
the man ahead of you steals, it is folly for you 
not to do so also, since they cannot put you both 

78 



BASE-EUNNING 

out at once, unless by the finest kind of a double 
play. This applies to the double steal of a sec- 
ond and third, and not second and home, since, 
as previously described, the stealing of second 
with third occupied may be permitted by the de- 
fense rather than risking the man on third 
making a score with the double steal. 

Triple steals are so rare in major League base- 
ball that less than half a dozen have ever been 
made! The Philadelphia Nationals made one in 
1910 against Cincinnati, and players talk of it 
yet. It was in the first inning. Grant was on 
third, Magee on second, and *^ Kitty'' Bransfield 
on first. Fromme was pitching for Cincinnati, 
and he had an unusually long wind-up. Grant 
had hesitated for an instant, on his running lead 
for home, two or three times, and had scuttled 
back to third when Fromme looked at him, ball 
under his chin. But the instant Fromme started 
the long wind-up. Grant ducked his head and ran, 
Magee started for third, and Bransfield for sec- 
ond. Fromme let the ball go, and McLean made 
a clean catch, but Grant slid right under the 
throw, scoring, and by the time McLean straight- 
ened up it was too late to catch either of the 

79 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

other runners. Other triple steals have been 
made by St. Louis against the Athletics in 1905, 
by the Athletics against Washington in 1908, and 
by Boston against the Athletics in 1909. 

Triple steals are so rare for many reasons, one 
being their difficulty, another the fact that they 
are not tried with two men out ; three men ^ ^ on, " 
and only one or none out, is not a common situa- 
tion! A third reason is that the chance of mak- 
ing a two- or three-run inning of it, if a hit re- 
sults, is always a hope when the bases are full, 
whereas a triple steal, if it fails, may mean the 
retiring of the side. 

One of the most vital things to learn in the art 
of base-running is sliding — ^how to slide and 
when to slide. There are numerous slides: the 
feet-first slide, the head-first slide, the wide slide, 
the ^'hook'' slide, the ^^fall away" slide, et cetera. 

The wide slide is usually taken head first. You 
slide wide of second, and half-way past it, and 
reach out and grab the bag with your left hand. 
It is useful in this way : it makes it very hard for 
the baseman to find any portion of you to touch 
with the ball! The *'hook'' slide is similar in 
intent, but in it you come in feet first, and either 

80 



BASE-RUNNING 

sitting or lying down. The bag is caught with 
one outstretched foot instead of the hand. 

Note well that you had best slide to the right 
and outside of the base when the ball comes from 
within the diamond, and to the left and inside 
the base when the ball comes from the outfield. 
In this way you come into the bag behind the man 
on the bag, and require him to turn around to 
touch you. It is just such little points that mean 
the tiny fraction of a second which spells the dif- 
ference between safety and a walk to the bench. 

As an indication of how hard it is to steal a 
base against a good team, and how much, there- 
fore, in practice and patience in all departments, 
particularly in stealing, the art calls for, con- 
sider the records for 1910. In the National 
League, Bescher, of Cincinnati, led all the play- 
ers with 70 stolen bases for the year. These he 
pilfered in 150 games, less than **half a base'' 
per game. In the American League, Collins, of 
Philadelphia, purloined 81 bases in 153 games, a 
little more than *^half a base" per game. 

The Cincinnati **Reds,'' in the National 
League, as a team, had the greatest number of 
stolen bases to their credit for the year, 310 se- 

81 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

cured in 156 games, a fraction less than two bases 
per game. The New York ** Highlanders ' ' led in 
the American League with 284 stolen bases in 156 
games. And because the chances of the expert 
stealer are so evenly balanced against the expert 
of defense, the stolen base is, and always will be, 
one of the charms of base-ball, always recognized 
as a great feat by the crowds, and appreciated 
by players as something hard to do. 

One more point, and we are through with the 
elementary survey of the art of base-running — 
when caught between bases, stay alive as long as 
you can, particularly when you are not alone **on 
the paths.'' Then, if there is a runner ahead of 
you, strive to draw the throws from the two men 
running you down, by dodging back and forth, in 
the hope that in the confusion he may score or at 
least advance a base. If he is behind you, strive 
to be caught, if caught you must be, at the far- 
thest base you can, so that there is the less 
chance to make a double play on the other man, 
and so that he, too, may steal a base. And if 
there is no one on the paths, and you are caught, 
don't give up easily. Dodge. Duck. Turn. 
Twist. Fight for your base — for the same reason 
you ^^run everything out." 

82 



CHAPTER IV 

Generalship of Offense 

LET it be understood at the start that there 
can be nothing ^^cnt and dried'' about base- 
ball. You cannot write a formula for general- 
ship. Circumstances alter cases. What is right 
in one situation may be wrong in another, even 
though both situations appear the same. If base- 
ball could be reduced to a mathematical problem, 
if it could always be worked out to such a cer- 
tainty that, given X pitching a fast ball, waist- 
high, Y batting, and Z on second, a run would al- 
ways result, the game would have little interest. 
It is the unexpectedness of the contest, the fact 
that ^Hhe game isn't over until the last man 's 
out," that makes it so fine a sport. 

So any account of generalship, designed to be 
instructive, must be considered as suggestive 
only, and certainly not to be regarded as were the 
laws of the Medes and the Persians. 

There is the ^^hit-and-run" play, for instance. 

83 



THE BATTLE OF BASE^BALL 

When shall a manager order it tried? When 
can it be expected to aid, when hinder, the chances 
of a run? The decision rests with the general 
directing the game, yet not infrequently, no mat- 
ter what he decides, the game confutes him. But 
it is undeniable that bad generalship loses almost 
as many games as bad playing. 

Earl Wagner, one-time President of the Wash- 
ington Base-ball Club in the old National League 
days, used to say, ** Mechanical errors by players 
are mere incidents of the game — tactical errors 
are its features and by them games are won and 
lost." 

As all base-ball fans know, the hit-and-run play 
•is tried with a man on first base and usually with 
less than two out — it may be one or none out. 
When the hit-and-run play is signaled, the run- 
ner starts for second base the instant the pitcher 
draws his arm back for the pitch. The batter 
strives to hit that pitched ball, whether it be good 
or bad, high or low. The play has several angles 
and possibilities. If the batter hits the ball so 
that it goes straight into some infielder's hands, 
he is out, and the runner is also out, barring an 
error, since the ball can be .thrown to first base 

84 



GENERALSHIP OF OFFENSE 

long before the runner can turn and get back. If 
the batter knocks a high fly, the base-runner must 
pull up and watch to see if it is caught — if it is, 
the batter is out and the runner must hurry back 
to first base. But if the batter hits a grounder, 
the chances are good that both he and the runner 
will be safe, the batter on first, the runner on 
second, or third, which possibility is the object of 
the play. And if the batter misses the ball en- 
tirely, the runner has an excellent chance of 
making a straight steal. The whole effort of the 
latter should be to hit the ball to right field and 
on the ground, or low — hence a good base-ball 
general will not order the hit-and-run with a man 
at bat who generally hits to left field or straight 
over second base. 

The batter wants to knock the ball to right 
field for two reasons. The first is that the sec- 
ond baseman, seeing the runner start to steal sec- 
ond, will be in duty bound to cover the second bag. 
The gap thus left between the second and first 
basemen is wide, and a grounder which would or- 
dinarily be ** gobbled up'' by the second baseman 
rolls safe. The second reason is that if the bat- 
ted ball is fast and low, the man running to sec- 

87 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

ond may easily make third base, also, whereas if 
the ball went through short-stop, the runner 
could not get to third before the leftfielder could 
get it and return it to third base. The whole 
function of the play hinges on these things, and 
the possibility of putting a man on third base, 
from first, on a *^ single/' 

The good field general ordinarily will not or- 
der the hit-and-run with a slow runner on first, 
when the pitcher *^ holds'' the runner well to first 
base; with a poor batter *^up "; with a batter up 
who hits to left field ; with two out ; or when he is 
being *^ outguessed" by the defense. For in- 
stance, with two balls and no strikes, a man on 
first and none out, the hit-and-run is often played, 
since it is probable the pitcher will try to ^*cut 
the plate" on his third pitch. The defense 
knows this. But in this situation, just because it 
is unexpected, a ** pitch out" is often ordered by 
the catcher — that is, the pitcher is to deliver the 
ball **wide" of the plate, so that the catcher can 
make a perfect catch and throw to second, to 
catch the runner, preventing the batter from hit- 
ting the ball at all. So the good general will at- 
tempt to catch the ** pitch out" signal, and flash 

88 



GENERALSHIP OF OFFENSE 

his countermand of the hit-and-run order, thus 
making the pitcher ^^ waste'' a ball, and keeping 
the runner ^^tied" to his base, preventing his be- 
ing put out. The beauty of base-ball generalship 
is seen right here in the outguessing of the op- 
posing general and compelling the pitcher to **get 
in a hole,'' i. e., pitch several ^^ balls" instead of 
** strikes," so that, to avoid passing the batter to 
first, he is compelled to *^put one over" the plate, 
thus giving the' batter an excellent chance to make 
a hit. The hit-and-run play is thus often sig- 
naled without being actually played — an obvious 
signal to play the hit-and-run, secretly counter- 
manded, to get the pitcher to waste balls, being a 
very effective play and in the end often producing 
a safe hit or an advance of runners as well as if 
the play itself were successfully tried. 

The ** squeeze play" is on the same plan as 
the hit-and-run, but played with a runner on 
third base instead of first. It is never played 
with two out, unless the side playing it is 
so far in the lead that any sort of a chance may be 
taken for the fun of it. The runner on third 
takes as big a lead as he dares, and sprints for 
the plate with the pitcher's motion. The batter 

89 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

tries only to ^^ineef the ball — he doesn't want 
to take chances hitting it, or try to drive it any- 
where — he wants simply to touch it and prevent 
the catcher from getting it. For the runner is 
coming in to the plate so fast that if the ball rolls 
ten feet from the bat, the chances of his getting 
across the * * rubber ' ' before the ball can be fielded 
by either catcher or pitcher are excellent. 

But if the batter fails to hit the ball, the run- 
ner is made to look very foolish indeed, since he 
comes up the plate to find the waiting catcher, 
with the ball in his hands, ready to ^^put it on 
him.'' In the hit-and-run, if the batter fails to 
hit, the runner may well make a straight steal of 
second, for the catcher must throw one hundred 
and twenty feet, the baseman must catch the ball 
and tag the runner, before he is out. In the 
*^ squeeze," the catcher does n't have to throw the 
ball at all, he has it ready and waiting. But in 
the hit-and-run, a batter who hunts makes of his 
play but an ordinary sacrifice play — he is prob- 
ably put out at first easily, and the runner has 
little chance of making third base. Whereas the 
hunter in the squeeze may easily be safe, since 
the fielded ball may be thrown to the plate in an 

90 



GENERALSHIP OF OFFENSE 

attempt to put out the runner, and, even if the 
batter is put out at first, a run has scored, and he 
is happy. 

The good general will not ordinarily order a 
squeeze with a good hitter up, preferring the 
chance of his making a '^hit," or with a slow 
runner on third, when his side is ahead of the 
game, unless he is so far ahead he is willing to 
take chances, or perhaps with the bases filled, the 
one time in a thousand when it is wise to try a 
triple steal. But with a good hunter up, two or 
three balls on the pitcher, a fast man on third, 
and a run badly needed, it may be a first-class 
play to try. It is also indicated when the pitcher 
is easily ** rattled,'' for, seeing the man tearing in 
from third, he may throw wild to the catcher. 

The ** sacrifice advance,'' more often called the 
sacrifice bunt, is the usual, average, general play 
with a man on first and none out. The offense 
figures they can afford to lose a man '^out" at 
first to advance the man on first base to second 
base, particularly with the batting order ** right" 
— that is, with the fast man on first, the good 
bunter or sacrifice hitter at bat, and the ^* clean 
up" man, noted for long drives and a good bat- 

91 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

ting average, ^^on deck," that is, next '^at bat." 
For with a man on second, one out, and two hit- 
ters coming (the result of the sacrifice advance), 
the chances of a score are good. 

Yet the wise general, knowing the defense ex- 
pects the ordinary, average play, will often order 
a hit-and-run, or a straight steal. For if he can 
have a man on second and none out, there is no 
limit to the things he may do — his chances of 
scoring are so much greater with only two bases 
to run and three batters coming, that he may de- 
pend entirely from there on, on sacrifice hitting, 
or he may get a man on first while the man on 
second is held to his bag and try a double steal, 
or a double delayed steal — so that here, as else- 
where, the sacrifice advance, though common, 
usual, and successful many times, may be — 
should be — varied occasionally by a keen general, 
to the confusion of the defense. 

Stealing second or third — double steals, de- 
layed steals, triple steals, already spoken of in 
the paper on base-running — may be opportunities 
taken by players, or ordered from the bench. 
The good general will not order a steal of second 
with none out and a slow runner **on," if a fine 

92 



GENERALSHIP OF OFFENSE 

batter is ^^up/* but he will order it with one or 
two out, if the conditions of batting order, the 
kind of pitcher, and the state of the game war- 
rant it. Left-handed pitchers, who usually hold 
players well to their bases, may be subjects for 
the delayed steal, in which the man on first takes 
a dancing lead, while the catcher has the ball, and 
who, poising for a sprint and slide back to first, 
makes it hard for the catcher to decide whether 
to throw to first base or return the ball to the 
pitcher. If he does the latter, the runner, ^'pull- 
ing otf'* the delayed steal, will start for second 
base as hard as he can go the instant the catcher 
tosses the ball to the pitcher. The pitcher, sur- 
prised, and not in position to whirl and make the 
throw to second in the minimum of time — caught 
*' flat-footed'* as ball-players say — will often get 
the ball to second base too late to catch the run- 
ner. Not infrequently he has to ^^hold his 
throw,'* waiting for the equally surprised second 
baseman or short-stop to get to the base in time 
to catch the ball. The ^'delayed steal" is thus a 
strategic move involving surprise of the enemy as 
its most salient feature, and the good base-ball 
general will take into consideration the wariness 

93 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

of his opponents and the character of the men on 
the paths and infield, before ordering it. He will 
also try to know what kind of a ball is to be 
pitched, and what the defense is going to do. It 
is largely a guessing-match, and yet it is guess- 
ing, and guessing right, which wins games. 

This ** guessing-match '^ is often intricate and 
involved. There is an instance often reported by 
admirers of the Chicago *^Cubs" in which Frank 
Chance, the captain, repeatedly outguessed the 
*^Eeds'' (Cincinnati), with which team they were 
playing a hard game. Chance had the ^^ acute 
situation'' to deal with, a man on first and an- 
other on third. Eoth, catching for Cincinnati, 
signaled his pitcher for a curve ball. Chance 
guessed that a curve was coming and ordered a 
delayed double steal, figuring that the batter 
would miss the curve and that the Cincinnati 
catcher, elated at a * * strike, ' ' would be less watch- 
ful in returning the ball and the pitcher less 
keenly on the look-out for a steal in getting ready 
for his next pitch. But some one of the '^Reds" 
saw the signal, the team shifted its position, and 
got up on tiptoe. Their signal was changed and 
a '* pitch out" called for. Kane, coaching for 

94 




ONE TENTH OF A SECOND COUNTS 
And the runner is ont ! 




ONE TENTH OP A SECOND COUNTS 
And, this time, the runner is safe! 



GENERALSHIP OF OFFENSE 

Chicago, noted as a ** signal reader/' saw the 
** pitch out'' signal and Chance changed his or- 
ders. His runners held their bases, and a ball 
was * lasted." On the next ball, Chance again 
ordered the delayed double steal. Roth guessed 
it, and ordered another ^^ pitch out." Chance 
saw this, and ordered a wait. Roth saw the 
change and ordered a fast, high ball. Chance, 
guessing he would do so, suddenly ordered a hit- 
and-run, a daring thing to do, a base hit was 
made, two runs scored, and the game was over! 
Beware the hit-and-run with first and second 
occupied — the grave danger of the play is a line 
ball to the infield resulting in a triple play, thus : 
the line ball, caught, puts the batter out; the first 
baseman, who makes the catch, steps to the initial 
bag, putting the first base occupant out (he hav- 
ing run for second) ; the first baseman throws to 
second base, in ample time to get the runner from 
that station who has run for third and has n 't had 
time to get back. In the same way, a ground ball, 
which has to be fielded to first base to get the run- 
ner, may be sent to second base to catch the man 
coming in, or to third to catch the man coming 
from second. In other words, the hit-and-run, 

97 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

with two men on, not only increases the chance of 
a score, but of retiring the side. Therefore, con- 
sider, before ordering it. Moreover, the ^^gap" 
between first and second basemen is not so wide 
when the hit-and-run is tried with two bases oc- 
cupied, for all the attention of the defense will 
be devoted to getting the leading runner. 

Generally speaking, the squeeze is not tried 
with the bases full, and the simple, unassisted 
triple steal is markedly rare. It requires com- 
plete cooperation between all three runners, and 
a fast man on third trying to get home. 

But the vital situation, that productive of the 
most interest in a ball game, is when first and 
third are occupied. The plays were discussed in 
the last paper — but what to do as captain, gen- 
eral, manager, when to order the single steal of 
second, in the hope of getting the man on third 
a chance to come home, when to order the double 
steal straight or delayed, both starting at once — 
those are hard questions. But, if this problem 
is hard for the general of the offense, it is ten times 
as hard for the general of the defense, and so 
the offensive general may well wait on his de- 
cision and see what happens. It is generally con- 

98 



GENERALSHIP OF OFFENSE 

ceded that desperate situations require desperate 
remedies — if the game is far gone and you are 
far behind, it is foolish tO; try to have the man on 
first steal second — the defense will play for him, 
and let the run score, since it can 't hurt them, but 
a long-continued game can. On the other hand, 
if you are but a run or so behind, the situation 
may well be so acute that the defense will not 
play for the runner on first at all, but will devote 
their attention to the man on third — hence it is 
wise to order the steal of second. There is al- 
ways the chance that they will play for this run- 
ner, letting the run score, and if they don't, why, 
you are a base ahead and the succeeding batsman 
has a chance of two runs in a hit from his bat, 
instead of one! 

The good base-ball general will never hesitate 
to change the men on his team when the necessi- 
ties arise. If a pitcher is to be taken out of the 
game and another substituted, a ^^ pinch hitter" 
is frequently sent into the game between the two. 
Thus, A is pitching, but is to retire in favor of 
B. C, a pinch-hitter, gets in the game first, takes 
A's place, and hits for him, and then B takes C's 
place and pitches for him. It is a rule of the 

99 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

game that a man taken out cannot play again in 
that game, consequently, one man is never substi- 
tuted for another who is not definitely through 
for that day. 

A few well-understood signals must be learned 
thoroughly, in the offense as well as the defense. 
You may arrange that these signals be given 
verbally or by motions, but they must be clear 
and well understood. The base-ball general must 
have a signal, with his batters and runners, for 
the hit-and-run, which will also serve for the 
squeeze ; for stealing a base, which will serve for 
the double and triple steals, also, since, of course, 
if a steal is ordered, all the men **on'' will steal; 
for the delayed steal ; for a sacrifice play, and for 
a bunt. 

Your signals may be words or deeds. You 
may scratch your nose for a single steal, or take 
off your cap for a hit-and-run. Or you 'may 
work into your coacher's talk a quiet, **Not yet; 
not yet, George/' and your runner will know that 
the use of his name means a steal. Your batter 
may be instructed to try the hit-and-run by being 
audibly commanded to do something else, as 
''Hit 'er out'' for a try on the third ball, ''Hit 

100 



GENERALSHIP OF OFFENSE 

her'' for a try on the second ball, *^Hit — ^you, 
Jack" for the play on the first ball, and so forth. 
Or yon may instruct him simply to try the hit- 
and-run, and use his judgment as to the ball on 
which he will play it, whereupon he must signal 
the runner what ball he will try to hit, which he 
may do by hitting the plate, once, twice, thrice 
or four times with his bat, or rubbing his right 
hand on his trousers, the number of fingers ex- 
posed showing the runner the number of the ball 
he will have to run on. 

But beware the signal which is too easy to 
give, and which may, in a moment of forgetful- 
ness, be given without intending it as a signal 
at all. In a game between Rochester and Buf- 
falo, such a mix up once occurred, at the cost of 
the game. The Rochester manager used a set 
of signals which were all ** natural" movements 
— that is, they consisted of putting the hand on 
the hip, lifting the cap, crossing the feet, etc., 
etc., instead of verbal calls with concealed mean- 
ings. These signals were often given by some 
one designated player on the bench, the better to 
avoid their being detected, for, of course, it soon 
becomes apparent that a team is using a set of 

101 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

silent signals and the managers and coaches are 
closely watched by the opposition to see if these 
signals can be detected. 

In this particular game, Dan Coogan, Roch- 
ester catcher, was the signal man. The score was 
a tie, and excitement was intense. Smith, of 
Rochester, got to first base on a hit. He glanced 
at Coogan, sitting on the bench, observed his feet 
crossed, which was the signal that day for a steal, 
and promptly dashed for second base, reaching 
that station safely and in a cloud of dust. 

A base hit now would win the game. But to 
the horror of the spectators and the indignation 
of the manager. Smith dashed for third on the 
first ball pitched, and was neatly retired there, 
catcher to third baseman. 

**Who told you to steal?'' vociferated the in- 
dignant manager! *^Who told you to steal sec- 
ond and why did you try to steal third! I pay 
you to obey orders, not throw away ball games 
— etc., etc., etc." 

Smith was equally indignant. **I stole because 
I was ordered!" he shouted. '^I'm not running 
this ball game. Look — there's Coogan, and his 
feet are crossed yet"; and off he stalked in high 

102 



GENERALSHIP OF OFFENSE 

dudgeon, and the manager turned his attention 
to the innocent Coogan, who, quite forgetting the 
importance of the signal, his work not usually be- 
ing that of signal giver, had been sitting with his 
feet, one on top of the other, wondering what in 
the world had thrown his usually level-headed 
captain off his balance ! 

Perhaps the utmost perfection in signaling, 
both in offense and defense, was reached when 
the Chicago ^^Cubs,'' the great base-ball machine 
built up and perfected by Frank Chance, the 
^* Peerless Leader,'' were the World's Cham- 
pions. Manager Chance, of course, changed sig- 
nals frequently. One of his signals for a steal 
was given by changing positions with some one 
on the bench. When he got up and looked over 
the bats on the ground, his runners and batsmen 
knew a hit-and-run was ordered. Sometimes he 
ordered double steals by lifting his cap; again, 
his signals would be calls to his players, in which 
^^Hofman" might mean '^ steal on the first ball"; 
^^Steiny" (short for Steinfeldt), ^' hit-and-run"; 
^^Sheckard," ^^bunt toward third," etc. 

Planning signals is easy — practising them and 
learning them not hard, but both are vital to the 

103 



i 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

offense, as well as the defense, although defen- 
sive signals are greater in number than the offen- 
sive signals. In other words, to hit, to run, to 
score, is all the offense can do. But the defense, 
to put men out at any of three bases and home, 
can have any one of a hundred combinations at 
work to trap a runner, and needs many more sig- 
nals to instruct nine men what to do than does 
the offense, which has never more than four men 
in the game at once. 

The opposing team will try to steal your sig- 
nals — ^will, by watching everything you do and say 
and the immediately following play, try to frus- 
trate your offense. It is part of the game. And 
just for that reason, you should have several sets 
of signals, for offense, which you can use without 
confusion. Thus, you should have an audible 
set, a visual set, a coacher's set, perhaps two of 
each. They need not be complicated or hard to 
learn. If there are too many signals to learn, 
players may get the several sets confused, and 
confusion in signals means getting beaten! 
Hence, have your signals as few as possible and 
as simple as possible, but have several sets so you 
can change if you find the other general has read 

104 



GENERALSHIP OF OFFENSE 

your signals and is anticipating what yon are go- 
ing to do. And do you, in your turn, watch your 
opponent, in his offense, and see if you can detect 
any connection between his acts, his speech, and 
the things his runners do. Watch his defensive 
signals, too, for if you can learn what the pitch 
is to be, and tell, by the shifting of the infield and 
the outfield, what they expect you to do, you can 
perhaps do something else. Be particular to try 
to get the catcher's signals, and to learn what the 
pitcher is going to do by watching him — ^with a 
man on base, to know when a waste ball is com- 
ing is invaluable since the more balls you can 
make a pitcher ^^ waste'' in the endeavor to catch 
a man stealing who wonH steal, the more likely 
you are to make him put the ball over the plate 
in the end. 

But the highest part of generalship is in the 
planning of the game — the campaign itself. A 
manager who can do this well wins many games 
before they are played. Briefly, such a planning 
beforehand means discovering an opponent's 
weakness, and playing to it. Thus, in 1909, the 
general plan of the Boston American League 
team was to run — run when they should and 

107 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

when they shouldn't — run whether they got put 
out or not — run, run, run. Their whole idea was 
that speed won ball games. Their nickname was 
the Boston '^ Speed Boys.'' They ran wildly, 
foolishly, wisely, speedily — but they always ran. 
The result was they threatened to win a pennant 
by running! But other managers finally de- 
cided to let them run! And consistent ^^pitch- 
ing out" and good throwing by catchers finally 
stopped them. 

Now if you have a team to play which has a 
weak-throwing catcher, plan your games on the 
idea of stealing second base every time you can, 
then third base, a little more cautiously; try to 
make as many scores on as few hits as you can — 
run, as the Boston Speed Boys did, and see if the 
weak-throwing catcher can stop you. If, on the 
contrary, the catcher is strong, but the pitcher 
weak, plan your game on bunts and hits — don't 
try to steal, play *^ straight base-ball," and let the 
batter bat the runner 'round. If the pitcher is 
weak on fielding, bunt and run, bunt and run, 
bunt and run, and while sometimes he will get 
you, at other times you will beat the ball, and 
few things demoralize a pitcher more than trying 

108 



GENERALSHIP OF OFFENSE 

to do swift fielding which does n't succeed or goes 
utterly ^'wild/' 

McCloskey, when managing the St. Louis Car- 
dinals, restrained his team from hitting the ball 
in a game with Chicago, when Reulbach was 
pitching, making his men bunt, bunt, bunt. They 
didn't w^ant to bunt — they wanted to hit. And 
they bunted themselves out of the game for six 
innings, the infield making those bunts count for 
*^ outs'' in rapid succession. But in the seventh, 
two bunts went safe, a sacrifice bunt advanced 
them, a bunt to first base was thrown wild to the 
plate, two runs scored, the Chicago players were 
in a rout, and before the ninth inning was over, 
McCloskey 's players had ^* bunted out" five runs! 

If the pitcher is very strong, and you have the 
nerve, do as Chance did when the ^^Cubs" played 
Detroit for the Championship of the World and 
beat them, and make your whole team ^'wait out" 
a pitcher. It was the second game of the last 
series between these two teams, played before a 
huge crowd. When Chicago learned that ^^Wild 
Bill" Donovan was to pitch for Detroit, Chance 
issued his single order *^wait." 

The team waited. Inning after inning passed 
109 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

— no score. The crowd yelled, shrieked, groaned 
for a hit — but the team waited. Man after man 
went to the plate and waited — took as many balls 
as he could get, made as many fouls as he could, 
got his two strikes — often his three strikes — and 
gave place to the next man. When a man did get 
on first base he did his best to draw throws from 
Donovan, anything to get him to throw and tire 
him out. ^^Wait,'V said Chance when his men 
begged to be allowed to hit. ^^Wait. The time 
has n't come yet ; wait !'' And they waited, those 
**Cubs," like hounds held in leash, impatient to 
be off, crazy to drive one of those teasing curves, 
those cannon-ball fast ones, out of the lot. 

They waited until the eighth inning. Hofman 
led off. He led off with a vengeance and a safe 
hit. Chance knew the time had come. **Hit it. 
Tinker,'' he said, and Tinker, smiling and draw- 
ing a deep breath, stepped to the plate. He was 
free. He could hit any ball he pleased ! And the 
first one pleased him mightily, and he smote it to 
the far outfield until it hit the fence. And others 
followed him, and they were also free, and they 
also picked out the balls that ''Wild Bill" sent 
toward them, and smote each man the kind he 

110 



GENERALSHIP OF OFFENSE 

liked the best, and when the smoke of battle 
cleared away, the ^^Cubs,*' well fed with runs, 
totaled six for their score, and the game was won. 

It was won by Chance, who figured that Dono- 
van, unhittable when ^^ right,'' would *^ pitch his 
arm off'' if made to pitch enough, and that then, 
before Jennings, manager for Detroit, could 
switch pitchers, a few hits in succession would 
win the game. It won it. 

Never confuse signaling with generalship. 
Never use a signal when plain instructions will 
do. If you want to play the hit-and-run, tell the 
batter so before he goes to the plate, and let him 
signal the runner — don't wait until he is at the 
plate, and signal the runner, and have him 
signal the batter. The simplest way is the best. 
Chance told, not signaled, his men to **wait." 
And just because the captain or manager can talk 
to his players on the offense, except when he him- 
self is ^*on the paths," he needs much fewer sig- 
nals for offensive work than for defensive work. 

And don't try to do it all from the bench. It 
isn't always possible to exercise generalship — 
sometimes the best planning is found in letting 
the man at bat and on the base do what seems to 

111 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

him best. Sometimes an opportunity to steal will 
occur which no manager could foresee, or order 
— the ^^signal-ridden'' player, who looks to his 
manager for everything, would never take the op- 
portunity — a man like Cobb, alert to every oppor- 
tunity, will take the chance and make his steal, 
and then look to see what his general wants him 
to do next! 

A delayed-double-steal bit of generalship was 
described in the first chapter. Another in- 
stance, this time a single delayed steal, almost 
as spectacular, although less depended on it, oc- 
curred in a game between the Pittsburgh ** Pi- 
rates'' and the Philadelphia *^ Phillies" last year. 
Wagner was on second base, one out. He got 
the signal for a delayed steal and danced away 
from second so far that it looked as if he must 
be caught. But ^^Red" Dooin, the captain and 
great catcher of the ** Phillies," knows what a 
base-runner Wagner is, and he wasn't to be 
tricked. He drew back his arm to throw, and 
paused. Wagner danced back toward second 
base. Dooin made as if to throw to the pitcher. 
Wagner danced oif second again. Again Dooin 's 
arm poised for the throw, and again Wagner 

112 



GENERALSHIP OF OFFENSE 

waited. Four times did Dooin ^^ bluffs' the throw 
to second base, and four times Wagner took 
chances — but could not draw the throw. Then, 
apparently giving it up, he took a short lead only. 
But those who were near him tell of seeing his 
great muscles set, and when Dooin, deceived at 
last, carelessly tossed the ball back to his pitcher, 
Wagner was off like a flash, slid in under the 
third baseman, and although the pitcher was 
quick, the third baseman couldn't quite get the 
ball at the right time — and Wagner was ^^safe.'' 
No manager could order all that. It requires 
some brains in the ^^how" of obedience, as well 
as a training to obey absolutely, in base-ball as 
in warfare. 

McGraw, now manager of the New York 
^^ Giants,'' and ^^Wee Willie" Keeler, perhaps 
the most artistic batsman who ever played the 
game, would never have established their freak 
record of two runs on a base on balls and a short 
single, if they had waited for orders from the 
bench. Both were with Baltimore, in the Old Na- 
tional League, playing the ^^ Senators," as the 
National League Washington team was called, in 
the capital city. McGraw drew a base on balls. 

113 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

Keeler came to bat, flashed the hit-and-run sig- 
nal to him, hoping, by hitting to right field, to let 
McGraw get to third base. But Keeler made a 
mistake, or the pitch took an odd curve, or some- 
thing went wrong, for he hit to left field. Mc- 
Graw, of course, had started for second as the ball 
was pitched. Abbey, in left field for the ^^Sen- 
ators'' (Washington), naturally thought McGraw 
would stop at second, never dreaming he would 
try for third when the ball was already in his 
(Abbey's) hands. McGraw figured on this, and 
did try for third. Abbey threw lazily enough to 
third base, McGraw twisted away in his slide, 
and was ^^safe." Meanwhile, of course, Keeler 
had kept on to second, seeing the ball and Mc- 
Graw racing each other to third. 

McGraw, guessing that Joyce, the third base- 
man, was sure he, McGraw, was through, got up 
and sprinted for home as Joyce turned to pick up 
the ball from the ground. Joyce, rattled, threw 
wild to the catcher, and McGraw scored. And 
as he picked himself out of the dust he was all 
but knocked down by little ^^Wee Willie" Keeler 
shooting in through the dirt and over the plate, 
behind him. It was daring, crazily daring, base- 

114 




CAUGHT r>ETWEEN THIRD BASE AND HOME 




THE FALLAWAY SLIDE 



GENERALSHIP OF OFFENSE 

running, but it won a game by two runs on a 
base on balls and a short single — something for 
which there is no parallel in major League base- 
ball history. ' 

It was a play, or series of plays, impossible 
to order from the bench, yet it showed general- 
ship of the highest class. And it is that general- 
ship on the part of McGraw which makes the 
* * Giants ' ' so hard to beat to-day, and which keeps 
them always dangerous, even to the last moment, 
in any game they play. 



117 



CHAPTER V 

Defense — Pitcher and Catcher 

DEFENSIVE * inside balP' begins with the 
pitcher and the catcher. Detailed de- 
scriptions of the various ** deliveries " which gen- 
erations of pitchers have developed, and instruc- 
tions by which boys can imitate them, can be 
found in most base-ball manuals, but it can be 
said here that while a repertoire of curves, fast 
balls, ^'spit balls," *^slow ones,'' a ^^ fade-away,'' 
a ^^drop," a ^^jump," and a '^wide curve" ball, 
is a very useful thing for a pitcher to possess, the 
vast majority of major League pitchers do not 
try to master all known kinds of delivery, but 
stick to a few and learn them thoroughly. Dif- 
ferent men have different ways of pitching a ball 
naturally, and a pitcher's development is usually 
best made along easy, natural lines, even though 
base-ball history is full of men like ^^Big Six" 
Mathewson, of the New York ^^ Giants," who, 
late in his pitching career, patiently and slowly 

118 



DEFENSE— PITCHER AND CATCHER 

developed a new delivery which he could throw 
only after hours of hard practice. This is the 
famous * ^ fade-away/ ' the terror and despair of 
most batters who have to face it. 

The acquired curves — those which do not come 
naturally — may well be let alone by boys, for this 
reason: a boy's arm is a growing arm. Both 
bones and muscles are not what they will be in 
manhood. Pitching a ball which strains the arm 
when it is young and growing, may fatally injure 
it for fine pitching when it has its growth. 
While not one lad in a hundred who reads this 
expects to be a professional base-ball-player, there 
may be also not one in a hundred who does not 
expect to play base-ball at intervals for some 
time to come. Moreover, straining an arm may 
keep you from pitching now as well as later; 
hence, don't try to imitate every wide curve or 
jerky **drop ball" you see, if, after a trial, you 
find it leaves your arm aching and sore. And 
above all things, don't worship at the shrine of 
that finger magic which makes a ball do strange 
tricks in the air, at the expense of control. Any 
big League pitcher will tell you that no matter 
what curves, jumping balls, and deceptive deliv- 

119 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

eries you may have, your prowess goes for naught 
if you lack that one thing — control. If you can 
**put it where you want it/' and have not even a 
suspicion of a curve, you can pitch a better game 
and ^^hold down," the opposing batsmen more 
effectively, than can the finest curve and jump 
ball pitcher ever born who can not make his 
curves break over the plate, and whose jump ball 
always misses the corners. 

Batsmen are a canny lot. They don't reach 
after wide ones when wide ones come toward 
them constantly. Making the batter '^bite" at a 
bad ball — one which is not over the plate — is half 
the art of pitching, and that art centers in the 
ability to control the ball. Almost any good 
pitcher can pitch a *^ strike" eight times out of 
ten — if he really wishes to do it. But he does n't. 
Most of them want to throw just enough strikes 
to fool the batsmen, and pitch balls which the 
batter will hit at and either **pop up" or *^foul 
off" or knock down for an easy play. If he has 
not control, the pitcher will issue passes, hit bats- 
men, and put balls over the plate just when he 
wants to keep them away, and then the opposing 
batsmen will ^* slaughter" him. 

120 



DEFENSE— PITCHER AND CATCHER 

How a pitcher, by losing control, may ** break 
np'^ a defensive play, was shown in a game be- 
tween the Cleveland and Chicago clnbs of the 
American League. The late Addie Joss, of 
Cleveland, was pitching. There was a man on 
first and one on second, and only one out. Joss 
was signaled for a waist-high ball, close in to the 
batter, yet over the plate, because the natural 
play was a bunt, and Cleveland wanted to frus- 
trate it; and such a ball is hard to bunt. Sulli- 
van, catcher of the Chicago s, at bat, will prob- 
ably hit such a ball near second base, if he hits 
it at all. With the pitch, Lajoie, the Cleveland 
second baseman, started for the logical place to 
field the ball, if Sullivan hit it. But Joss's hand 
slipped, the ball went low, cut the heart of the 
plate, and was bunted half-way between first and 
second. Joss was unable to reach the ball, the 
Cleveland first baseman had run to the bag to 
get the ball in case Lajoie fielded it, for a double 
play, Lajoie couldn't get to the hunt in time to 
make a play because caught going in the wrong 
direction, and all three runners were safe. Two 
runs eventually scored. Had Joss had control of 
the ball, all this wouldn't have happened. 

121 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

So it is good advice to take — practise, practise, 
practise, you lads who would be pitchers, but prac- 
tise for control, first! Learn to put the ball 
where you want it with an easy, firm motion, and 
without any curve at all, save the natural curve. 
Once you have control of your straight ball, so 
that you can send one over the left corner, one 
over the right corner, and the third over the cen- 
ter of the plate, to your catcher's orders, twice 
running, you can commence on your curves and 
''break" deliveries. But practise these gently. 
DonH try to see how wide a curve you can throw, 
or how big a ''jump'' you can get on the ball — 
see how wide a curve and how much a jump you 
can get on it with control, A ball which curves 
and does n't go where you intend it, is worse than 
useless to you. If you can't curve them but an 
inch or two without losing control, don't use that 
curve. 

Another word of caution: don't pitch without 
warming up. Big League pitchers don't warm 
up for fun — they do it because they know they 
will hurt their arms if they don't. Warm up ten 
minutes before the game, pitching easily at first, 
then harder and harder, until you are "burning 

122 



DEFENSE— PITCHER AND CATCHER 

them through/' but, just because you are a boy, 
don't neglect that warming of the arm and lim- 
bering of the muscles that regular pitchers have 
found essential before taking their places in the 
big League games. (See Chapter VIII.) 

When you see half a dozen pitchers warming 
up before a game, and one is finally selected, and 
the others, including Mathewson, or Walsh, or 
Bender, or Ford, are sent to the bench, what does 
it mean? It means that all six of the men who 
have warmed up were possibilities, but that the 
one selected showed the most *^ stuff on the ball," 
as the expression is, and, at the same time, the 
best control. On the rare occasions in which men 
like Mathewson, of the ** Giants,'' Brown, of the 
''Cubs," Johnson, of the Washington Nationals, 
Bender, of the Athletics, or Ford, of the ''High- 
landers," are driven from the pitcher's mound, 
hammered for hit after hit, investigation usually 
shows that, temporarily, they have lost control 
of the ball. It may be an unexpected breeze 
striking the ball, or a muscle "kink" in the arm, 
or it may be a mental cause, entirely, but it is 
almost always the loss of control of the ball, and 
not loss of strength or ability to make the ball 

123 



THE BATTLE OF BASE^BALL 

curve or jump, which makes a pitcher lose a game 
or be hit so hard he is taken out. 

And when it comes to the * inside game/' the 
spirit and essence of defensive base-ball, control 
by the pitcher is everything. Knowing a batter, 
his weakness, his strength, his character, his pos- 
sibilities, and a pitcher can tell, within a reason- 
able degree of accuracy, what he is likely to do 
with a given pitched ball. In one of the World's 
Championship games of 1908, between Chicago 
and Detroit, ^^Three-fingered'' Brown gave an 
exhibition of that brain, fielding ability, and con- 
trol, possession of which has made him one of the 
great pitchers of his time. Chicago was two runs 
to the good, in the fourth inning. But Detroit 
was fighting, and fighting hard, and somehow 
Brown slipped a bit, and O'Leary and Crawford 
each got a single and perched on first and sec- 
ond, with Cobb at the bat. 

Naturally, Cobb wanted to bunt. He is a beau- 
tiful hunter, and so fast that he turns more bunts 
into hits than you would well believe, unless you 
saw him do it. And a bunt, successful, meant 
the bases full and none out. Such a situation 
meant a run, two runs, perhaps the game. 

124 



DEFENSE— PITCHER AND CATCHER 

Cobb knew lie was going to bunt, Brown knew 
he was going to bunt, O'Leary, on second, knew 
Cobb would bunt — every one knew Cobb would 
bunt. ^^GeneraP' Hugh Jennings, of course, fig- 
uring that the bunt would be fielded to third base 
for a force play on O'Leary, ^^ expected every 
man to do his duty,'* which, translated into base- 
ball, meant that he expected that O'Leary would 
take a big lead and run and slide, that Cobb 
would bunt short toward third and also run and 
slide, and that Crawford would take second on 
the play. 

But *^ Three-fingered" Brown looked further 
ahead. He walked to Steinfeldt, the third base- 
man of the **Cubs," and told him: 

'^Keep to the bag. The ball is coming to you, 
and coming hard — watch!" 

Kling, catching, signaled Brown for a fast ball, 
over the inside of the plate. But Brown de- 
murred. He had his own plan. He let Kling 
know he would pitch a curve, low, to the outside 
corner of the plate. It was the ball of all others 
Cobb wanted most. Brown knew he wanted it, 
and planned to let him bunt, just as he wanted to, 
but Brown knew his three fingers and his arm 

127 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

and looked further ahead than Cobb, for the 
Chicago twirler is a master strategist. 

Brown pitched. The ball went exactly to the 
spot he had intended it should. Cobb made a 
beautiful bunt toward third base. O'Leary was 
half-way to third by the time the ball struck the 
bat. It looked as if the play had succeeded. 
But, starting with his pitch, Brown had run to 
the third base foul line. He met the ball as it 
rolled, picked it up on the run, whirled, and with- 
out looking, threw it with all his strength straight 
into Steinfeldt's hands. O'Leary was forced out 
by yards. The crowd went crazy, and Detroit, 
puzzled and sore, '^blew up,'' and two more bril- 
liant plays retired the side. 

As an example of pitching brains, that feat 
stands supreme. As an example of the impor- 
tance of control, it is good to read over a second 
time — for had Brown not been able to put the 
ball just where he wanted it, Cobb could not have 
made the bunt just where Brown wanted him to 
make it. And as an example of the importance 
of the pitcher as a fielder, it is worthy of emu- 
lation by any boy, particularly by the boy who 
has the exaggerated idea of the pitcher's impor- 

128 



DEFENSE— PITCHER AND CATCHER 

tance so firmly fixed in his head that he thinks 
only of base-ball in terms of curves and shoots, 
and never of the pitcher as a batter or as a fielder. 

Pitchers are of all kinds, but the most success- 
ful are those who can ** pitch with their heads," 
as well as with their hands and arms. Pitchers 
usually follow the catchers' signals, in delivering 
balls, pitching to the best of their ability what he 
orders. Sometimes, as in the last incident, the 
pitcher will signal the catcher what he will pitch, 
and so a code should be arranged between the 
two, by which the pitcher can indicate if he ap- 
proves of the signal and will follow it, or if he 
wishes to change it. No good pitcher ever 
*^ crosses" his catcher, that is, accepts a signal 
and then pitches some other kind of ball, for to 
do so may mean that the catcher, * * set " for a low 
ball to the left, may miss a high one to the right 
entirely, thus having a '* passed ball," and allow- 
ing a run to score or a base to be stolen. More- 
over, injury to the catcher may result from pitch- 
ing the kind of ball that he is not expecting. 

As a general rule, it is for the catcher to say 
when a hit shall be allowed, that is, when it is 
right for the pitcher to ^'put one over," and al- 

129 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

low the batter to hit it. This is often done to 
save the pitcher's arm, when the game is not at a 
crucial stage, when the pitcher is tiring, or when 
there are so many runs to the good that it is 
right to take chances of fielding the hit, or when 
a force play seems probable. But sometimes the 
pitcher will save himself in this way, without the 
catcher's orders, not by '* crossing" his signals, 
but by letting up in his speed. 

*^Long Tom" Hughes, of Washington, was for 
years a hoodoo for the Cleveland club, of the 
American League, that is, he was almost always 
able to beat them at will. It is a matter of 
record that they could make hits off of him, when 
he chose, but could seldom or never win. And 
when, as sometimes happened, they had two or 
three men on bases and none out, and the coach- 
er's cheerful cry of, ^^ Tighten up, Tom," would 
be wildly echoed from the stands, ^^Long Tom" 
would then wind himself into a knot, and strike 
out three batters in rapid succession, all the bet- 
ter for his short rest, and never in doubt that he 
could do it, when he was ready. ** Tighten up, 
Tom, ' ' was the signal for a groan from the Cleve- 
land bench in many a game, and the cry of de- 

130 



DEFENSE— PITCHER AND CATCHER 

light which went up from the Cleveland club 
when Hughes was sent to a minor League, was 
only equaled by their wail of sadness when he re- 
turned to Washington. But *^Long Tom^' lost 
his ^^ hoodoo'' in the minor leagues, and in 1911 
Cleveland beat him well and often in sweet re- 
venge for those lean years when he had been 
their master. Such is base-ball fortune. 

As an example of how pitching can be done 
with brains as much as with the arm, consider 
little Johnny McGraw, manager of the New York 
^^ Giants," as a pitcher. He is not so known to 
fame, but, perhaps as much for a joke as any- 
thing else, he pitched three and two-thirds in- 
nings against the Atlanta team, in spring train- 
ing, in 1911, and allowed one hit. All he pitched 
was a slow ^^ floater" and a ^^ cross-fire" straight 
ball, nothing but what any batsman could hit 
easily — if he knew it was coming. But the At- 
lanta batsmen had been facing Marquard's swift 
pitching, and the change to McGraw 's slow ball 
and ** cross-fire" fooled them completely. 

Pitchers should be able not only to throw to the 
plate with accuracy, but to first, second, and third 
bases. The laws of the game require a pitcher 

131 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

to take a step and to look toward a base when 
he throws to catch a man ^^ napping, '* otherwise 
the throw is ^^balk'' and the runner may advance. 
But the good pitchers learn to throw to bases at 
the same instant they look, and to make the step 
coincident with their throws — some produce a 
^^near balk," so finely executed that runners dare 
not take a lead of more than ^ve feet — and the 
help this is to the catcher in preventing stolen 
bases, and to the whole play of the defense, in 
preventing the hit-and-run and sacrifice plays, is 
incalculable. 

Here, as elsewhere, control is necessary — the 
ball must go straight and true to the baseman, 
and must be so aimed that it does not conflict 
with the runner. Throw low, rather than high. 
Throwing low rather than high forces the field- 
er 's hand down, and he is then ready to touch the 
runner as he comes in or slides back to the base. 
But the throw to first should not be so low that 
it drags the baseman off the bag, or causes him 
to reach too far forward, as then he is in no po- 
sition to **put it on'' the man coming back to the 
base. Of course, any throw to the first baseman 
on the play from a batted ball does not have to 

132 



DEFENSE— PITCHER AND CATCHER 

be low, since then the baseman does not have to 
touch the runner at all. 

If your team of boys are playing together con- 
stantly, always have a set of signals between 
pitcher and the fields, infield and outfield. The 
infield can usually see the catcher's signals, the 
outfielders cannot. It is important that the field- 
ers know what to expect. In big League games, 
you will see the whole field shift for different 
batters, and sometimes more than once for one 
batter, indicating that a change has been made 
in the kind of ball to be served to him. Thus, 
certain men will hit low balls high in the air, and 
waist-high balls on the ground. If a low ball is 
to be pitched, the outfield must know and pre- 
pare for a fly. The signal to tell them may be a 
double swing of one arm, a rub of the hands in 
the dirt — any seemingly natural motion may have 
an arbitrary meaning attached to it. 

A pitcher who has a knowledge of batters is 
thus better able to play the game than one who 
has not. This knowledge is usually shared be- 
tween pitcher and catcher, but the pitcher must 
not depend too much on his catcher for this in- 
formation. Often a pitcher finds that some bat- 

133 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

ter supposed to hit a certain delivery easily and 
to be unable to hit another delivery at all, has 
^ ^ reversed his eye, ' ' so that he hits what formerly 
he was unable to ^^see," and now cannot hit balls 
that formerly were easy for him. In case this re- 
versal is sudden, the catcher may call for the ball 
that the pitcher knows must not be served, and it 
is in cases of this kind where the pitcher must in- 
sist on changing the signal, even if it be neces- 
sary to stop the game long enough for him to 
consult with the catcher. This is often the pur- 
pose of those little mid-diamond conversations 
between pitcher and catcher, when the bleachers 
roar at the two, * ^ Tell him all about it, now. ' ' As 
often, however, these little interludes come from 
the catcher's desire to steady the pitcher by a 
word of caution or encouragement. 

There was a newspaper interview printed not 
long after the 1911 World's Series in which it 
was claimed that the Philadelphia players were 
able to tell, by watching ** Matty,'' when that 
pitcher was going to deliver his famous ** fade- 
away" by an unconscious movement of his foot. 
This was denied by Matty (of course) but with 
the very sensible query *^ where do those who are 

134 



DEFENSE— PITCHER AND CATCHEE 

responsible for this story suppose all the batters 
of the National League have been looking, not to 
speak of my manager, McGraw, if all these years 
I have been making betraying motions with my 
foot when I was to pitch the ^fade-away'?" 

Nevertheless, the incident shows that pitchers 
must watch most carefully whether or not they 
betray what they will pitch by their movement 
and position. 

Not only must the pitcher see to it that no mo- 
tion of his betrays what the pitch is to be — that 
no unconscious settling in position, turn of the 
wrist or position of the hand indicate to the hawk- 
eyed batsman whether to expect a curve, a drop, 
a straight ball or a '^spitter,'' but the fielders, 
too, must watch themselves for the same thing. 
Sullivan, of the White Sox, captain and manager 
of his team when they were known as the ^ ^ hitless 
wonders'* from their standing in the League race 
and ability to make runs by strategy and cun- 
ning when they couldn't ^* connect" with their 
opponent's pitcher's delivery, watches the short- 
stop and second baseman, instead of the pitcher. 
When Sullivan steps to the plate his eyes are fas- 
tened on these two fielders. He finds they not in- 

137 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

frequently indicate to him, by a change in their 
position, by the way they poise on their feet, 
which way they expect the ball to be hit. Know- 
ing this, he can guess what the pitcher will offer 
him — an out-curve if they expect the ball to right 
field, an in-curve if they seem to expect it to left. 
Of course, not all fielders make such movements, 
and not always, when they do, does the pitcher 
deliver the ball so that it is hit as it was ex- 
pected, but the percentage is in favor of the bats- 
man making a hit, if he knows what to expect in 
the way of a pitched ball, and so, when Sullivan 
finds a short-stop or second baseman who will 
unconsciously tell him what to expect he has a 
'Afield day" at bat! 

That the pitcher must know something of base- 
ball strategy is easy to understand. For in- 
stance, the spectacle of a pitcher passing a man 
to first base, with two men on and one out, is not 
unusual, particularly if one of the runners is on 
third. The idea is this : a man on third, and one 
on first, means that the man on first will probably 
steal anyway. If, then, the forthcoming hit, 
which the defense fears, **goes through'' first 
base, a run will score, even if the ball be fielded, 

138 



DEFENSE— PITCHEE AND CATCHER 

because there is not time to make a play to second 
or third and to home also. But if all three bases 
be occupied, there may be a good chance to make 
a double play and retire the side, without throw- 
ing home at all. The good defensive general will 
sometimes order his pitcher to fill the bases in 
such circumstances, other things being equal, or 
the pitcher will do it on his own responsibility, if 
the man at bat is a heavy hitter and the man fol- 
lowing is weak, or if he has been hitting weakly, 
or not at all, or on the ground. Note, too, that 
with the bases full, the ** double" can be made to 
any two stations, in a force play, with no neces- 
sity to touch the runner, a great advantage when 
speed is necessary. 

Connie Mack, the canny Scot leader of the 
Champion Philadelphia Athletics, has a theory 
that when a pitcher is being hit hard, it is often- 
times the catcher and not the pitcher who should 
be changed. In other words, that a catcher is 
largely responsible for a pitcher's success or fail- 
ure. 

That this is absolutely true, no pitcher who has 
ever pitched to a first-class catcher will deny. 
Let us imagine that you who read this were abso- 

139 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

lutely perfect in the' mechanical work of a catcher 
— that you could catch the most difficult pitches, 
throw accurately to all bases, and knew to a hair 
just where each ball you signaled for from the 
pitcher would come. But there your knowledge 
is supposed to stop. You don't know anything 
at all about batters, or defensive generalship. 

You are playing against a team which is com- 
posed half of right-hand, half of left-hand bat- 
ters. Your pitcher is a * ^ speed-ball artist, ' ' with 
a slow drop to ^'mix in.'' What will you tell him 
to pitch? To which batter will you have him 
pitch the fast ball inside, to which the fast ball 
outside? To which batter shall he serve slow 
drops, mixed with wide balls, to which slow drops 
mixed with fast ones, high, to which fast ones, 
low, mixed with wide and teasing balls that just 
fail to be strikes? You don't know. You are 
bound to guess wrong much of the time. And 
every time you guess wrong and order the pitcher 
to give Cobb a waist-high ball over the plate, he 
knocks it out of the lot. And when you try to 
fool Magee, of the ** Phillies," or Wagner, of 
Pittsburgh, or Lajoie, of Cleveland, by calling 
for ** teasers" which just fail to be strikes, you 

140 



DEFENSE— PITCHEE AND CATCHER 

find they treat them just as if you held the ball 
still for them to hit, and knock them out of the 
lot, too. Is it the pitcher's fault? It is not. It 
is your fault. But put in a great catcher, even 
one who has less mechanical ability than that you 
are here supposed to possess. Let it be Thomas 
of the ^^ Athletics," **Red'' Dooin, of the Na- 
tional League *^ Phillies," Gibson, of Pittsburgh, 
Street, of Washington, Sweeney, of the New York 
** Highlanders," and see the difference. The 
pitcher is called on for those balls which the 
catcher knows the batsmen don't like. He is 
called on for wide balls just in time to make pos- 
sible the throw to second to stop a steal. He is 
steadied, encouraged, played upon, by the catcher, 
almost as a musical instrument is played upon by 
a musician. So well is this partnership recog- 
nized, that many a pitcher is always bracketed 
with a catcher as a great ^^ battery," as Clarkson 
and Kelly, of Anson's great Chicago team, or 
Johnson and Street, of Washington, or Young 
and Criger, formerly of Boston. 

So you, as a catcher, must learn to know the 
opposing batsmen and their weaknesses — and you 
must also know your pitchers and just what they 

141 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

can and cannot do. It is idle to demand a low 
drop on the inside of the plate from a pitcher 
who cannot pitch a drop except he pitches slow — 
and you must know all this. It is foolish to de- 
mand a ''jump" ball from a pitcher who is just 
beginning to develop one. Know your pitcher, 
and his possibilities, and play these against your 
knowledge of a batter's weakness and his strength 
— so will you be a good catcher and one with 
whom pitchers will want to work. 

In studying a new man — one who has not faced 
the pitcher before, you, as a catcher, must look 
well, not only to his position at the plate, but to 
the way he holds his bat. Does he stand close to 
plate, crowding it ? He will have difficulty in hit- 
ting an in-curve. Does he ''hold his elbows in 
the small of his back" as ball players call that po- 
sition in which a batsman stands with chest out, 
and arms close to the sides? He can hardly con- 
nect at all with a low ball. Does he crouch low 
over the plate and "choke" his bat — i. e., hold it 
way down from the end ? He will have grave dif- 
ficulty in hitting a high ball hard, etc., etc. 

Having looked at the way the new man carries 
his bat and at the way he stands, "work" him in 

142 



DEFENSE— PITCHER AND CATCHER 

this way. Have the pitcher ^^feed'' him the balls 
at the height you think he likes them, but have 
him make these deliveries go outside his natural 
flitting reach — ^in other words, make them 
"'balls." Have him put the strikes over the 
plate at the height the batter likes them least, 
thus teasing him to hit at bad balls, which will 
then become strikes without much danger to your 
side, and to hit at real ** strikes" which are so 
illy placed for him as to cause your side equally 
little danger of a base hit. For in such reason- 
ing lies the art of the catcher — ^in his head, judg- 
ment and ability to size the batter up — as much 
as in the cunning of his hand and arm to throw 
and catch, and it matters not a whit whether you 
or the pitcher does the signaling, so you both do 
your looking and your planning before each and 
every ball that is pitched. 

The catcher faces the team. He is the only 
man who sees all the other men. Consequently 
he is in the best position to give signals to all the 
team, to plan plays, and to execute a general's 
orders. He must have many signals. Every 
time the catcher stops and hides his bare hand in 
his glove, he is telling the pitcher something. 

143 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

His hand clenched may mean ^^a drop ball.'' 
His hand clenched, with thumb ont, may mean * * a 
wide one. ' ' One finger out may mean * ^ a curve, ' ' 
two fingers out ^^a slow ball,'' three fingers out 
**a fast ball," etc., and the position of the fingers 
and hand in the glove, whether the ball is to be 
delivered high, low, or waist-high. The catcher 
must signal the first baseman if he intends to 
throw to the base to catch a runner who has 
taken a lead — his mit suddenly turned palm out 
and back may be the signal. He will then ask 
for a ^^ waste ball" or '^wide one," and, getting it, 
will hurl immediately to first base, where the first 
baseman has come in on a tearing run, the instant 
the ball is pitched. With a lone runner on first, 
both he and the baseman ^^hug the bag" until the 
ball is pitched, and then both usually dance away, 
the runner to get a lead, the baseman to get a 
chance to field the ball — so it frequently plays 
havoc with the base-runner for the baseman to 
run unexpectedly bach to the bag to receive the 
catcher's throw, which he knew was coming, but 
which was, of course, a complete surprise to the 
base-runner. 

And do not be discouraged if you do not catch 
144 




CATCHER ON THE ALERT TO PREVENT BASE-STEALING- 




STONE OF THE ST. LOUIS TEAM 

Being put out at the home plate by Catcher Henry of 

the Washington Chib 



DEFENSE— PITCHER AND CATCHER 

them off the bags. This first-base throw is not 
half as much to catch runners as to keep them 
from taking too long leads — it is as much the 
catcher's business as the pitcher's to hold men to 
the first sack, and the best catcher, other things 
being equal, is he who does it best. 

The catcher must signal the infield at the same 
time he signals the pitcher — that is, must be sure 
some man on the infield knows what ball is to 
be pitched. Usually the third baseman or short- 
stop will be able to see the signal to the pitcher, 
and he can transmit his knowledge to the rest of 
the infield. This is particularly necessary when 
a ^^ waste ball" is to be pitched, since a ^^ waste 
balP' means that the catcher expects the runner 
to steal, and hopes to make a throw to second to 
catch him. Second baseman or short-stop, then, 
must know what to expect and signal each other 
as to who is to take the throw, according to the 
probabilities of the man at bat making a hit to 
right or left of second base, in case the ball is 
hit in spite of its being a ^^wide one.'' The good 
catcher sees that his signals are plain and under- 
stood. To get a wide ball, be all ready to throw 
to second, see the runner stealing, and find no one 

147 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

on second to take the throw, is not only irritating 
— it 's poor base-ball. 

The good catcher, however, never throws with- 
out hope of success. He does n't throw if he is 
a fraction of a second late in getting started. 
Many a time the stands yell at a catcher for 
standing still like a *^bone head,'' with the ball 
^^ right in his hands," and ^*that fellow on first 
just walking down to second!" And this, if you 
really know the game, is often funny. For there 
is no *^ wisdom" more ignorant than that of the 
ardent ^^fan" in the stands, who has seen the 
runner start, the wide ball pitched, but who fails 
to note that the second baseman, perhaps, slipped 
a little in a muddy place on the infield as he 
started to cover. He knows, the catcher knows, 
the teams know, why the catcher didn't throw — 
that it was too late, and that the throw which 
would appease the crowd might ^ ^ throw the game 
away" if it went wide or wild. But the **fan" 
doesn't know, therefore he yells! 

The good catcher, like the pitcher, learns to 
throw low to bases. The difference in time be- 
tween *^ putting the ball on the runner," from a 
throw taken shoulder-high or ankle-high, is often 

148 



DEFENSE— PITCHEK AND CATCHER 

the difference between safe and out. The good 
catcher throws low to second and a bit to his 
right of the bag. And that catcher who can 
throw without taking a step, who can throw 
**from his ear/' with a short, snappy motion of 
his arm, clips another quarter-second from the 
time the man at first base has in which to steal, 
and a quarter-second means nearly three feet — 
ample space in which to catch a runner. 

The catcher who knows his business does not 
lose his temper with either umpire or' pitcher. 
Many a catcher has learned to his cost, that doing 
so, and showing it by hurling the ball viciously 
on the ground, to bounce into the pitcher's hands, 
gives a waiting and alert base-runner a chance 
to steal second. The delayed steal is not worked 
against a catcher who never takes his eyes off 
the base-runner until he has thrown the ball 
swiftly, but not too hard, to the pitcher. Delayed 
steals when worked on the catcher's throw to the 
pitcher are certificates of the negligence of the 
catcher. 

Often the catcher is able to catch a batter's 
signal and knows that the hit-and-run, the sacri- 
fice, or the sacrifice-fly is to be attempted; more 

149 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

often, his base-ball brains enable him to guess 
the play. If the pitcher is not ^4n a hole,'' that 
is, if the pitcher has not pitched more balls than 
strikes, the catcher may easily frustrate the play 
by calling for a wide ball, or the kind of pitch the 
batter bunts least easily or from which he is least 
likely to hit a high fly — usually a high ball. But 
if the pitcher must ^^put it over'' to save giving 
a base on balls, and has n't enough control to per- 
mit the catcher to call for a teasing curve or jump 
ball at this time, then the catcher must signal 
the field what to expect — a fly, a sacrifice, or a 
bunt. His signal may be a pat of his knee for 
an expected fly; a two-handed adjustment of his 
mask for a bunt ; or three blows of his mit by his 
free hand for an expected hit-and-run — any nat- 
ural movement here, as elsewhere on the team, 
may have an arbitrary meaning. But the sig- 
nals should be, for easy remembering and ready 
understanding, those signals used by the rest of 
the team. Thus, if the catcher signals a fly by 
patting his knee, patting the knee should be the 
signal used by all for an expected fly; and if the 
short-stop or second baseman is properly alert, 
one or the other, or both, will signal the outfield 

150 



DEFENSE— PITCHER AND CATCHER 

in accordance with the catcher's signal both the 
pitch and the expected play. 

But a catcher has much more to do than all 
these things. He must learn to block runners at 
the plate, by getting artistically in their way 
when they come sliding in ; he must learn to touch 
the sliding runner with the ball in the swiftest 
possible way; he must learn to throw from any 
position, almost without looking; to watch base- 
runners and make throws to third, as well as first 
and even second, when it is possible to catch the 
runner off his base ; to signal the pitcher when he 
may catch a man off base ; to look carefully to the 
batter to see what kind of a bat he carries and 
how he holds it, to discover, if possible, his inten- 
tions. 

So it is easily seen that the catcher is one of 
the most vital members of the team. On him, 
more than on any other member, rests the respon- 
sibility for defensive generalship, saving always 
the general on the bench, whose orders and com- 
mands the catcher executes as first-lieutenant. 
And, in choosing a catcher from those boys who 
can catch well with the big mit, remember that 
mechanical accuracy, the ability to stop wild 

151 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

pitches, to block runners, and to throw to bases, 
is necessary for any first-class catcher. But the 
finest fielding machine in the world would fail as 
a catcher without brains, quick thinking, and 
wide-awake alertness. 

If you have two candidates for the catcher's 
position it does not necessarily follow that the 
best thrower and back stopper makes the best 
lad to play the position. If you have choice of 
two, and one is excellent in mechanical work and 
slow of thought, and the other is quick of wit, but 
not so good with the glove, it is still the quick 
witted one who should have first trial. 

For wherever mechanical excellence will stop 
one run, quick thinking and good defensive gen- 
eralship will stop three. And that is where the 
big League managers find .their troubles — to get 
perfect mechanical catching machines combined 
with genuine base-ball brains. It is their brains 
that have made the reputation of all the great 
catchers in the history of base-ball — the fame of 
the Kellys, the Bresnahans, the Dooins, the Gib- 
sons, the Klings, the Archers, the Streets — quite 
as much, if not more, than their wonderful ability 
to throw and handle difficult deliveries. 

152 



CHAPTER VI 

Fielding 

WHAT soldiers behind the breastworks, in 
the forts and trenches, are to the com- 
mander of an army, his players, when in the field, 
are to the base-ball general. On them rests the 
responsibility of defeating the attack, of meeting 
the tactics of the opposing general and his sol- 
diers (base-runners), and of cutting short the ac- 
tivities of the offense by retiring the three men 
necessary to ^*side ouf in the shortest possible 
time, with the least effort and the utmost cer- 
tainty. 

Even as an army attacked has more than one 
line of defense — scouts, pickets, outriders, the 
main body of troops, and the reserves — so has 
the defensive base-ball army. It has, as its first 
line of defense, the *^ battery,^' the pitcher and 
catcher, who, together, strive first to put the bat- 
ter '^out" at the plate, and, second, failing this, 
to frustrate his efforts to get ^^safe'' on first base. 

153 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

For the second line of defense, the general has 
his infield, and for the third, the outfield — three 
men in the ^^far gardens'' who do less fielding 
than the infielders, but whose duties are vitally 
important. 

To choose the position you will play, or to 
choose the proper position for other lads, if upon 
you, as general, rests that responsibility, involves 
considerable judgment and knowledge. To let a 
boy play a certain position because he likes it, 
may be good boyhood diplomacy, but mighty poor 
base-ball. And, once you get the idea that one 
position is of greater honor than another out of 
your head and out of the thoughts of your com- 
panions, and substitute the belief that all of you, 
infielders, outfielders, pitchers, and catchers, are 
but soldiers of the defense, all equal, all working 
for the common end, and begin to assign players 
according to their qualifications for the positions 
they must fill, you will begin to have a real ball 
team — not merely nine boys playing ball together. 

The first baseman, in years gone by, was a sort 
of extra batsman on the team, a mighty hitter, 
who was expected to do nothing save bat in runs 
and catch the majority of the throws sent him, 

154 



FIELDING 

but to field little, if at all. To-day, all this is 
changed. Big League managers still expect a 
first baseman to be a hitter, but he must also be a 
star fielder, cover a world of ground, have a cat- 
like ability to change his position, play with his 
feet as well as hands, keep his head, and, at the 
same time, possess height, strength, reach, a 
**good whip^^ (or throwing arm), and be as quick 
as lightning. 

Height and reach are cardinal qualifications. 
Although there are sterling first basemen who 
are not tall — for instance, Harry Davis, formerly 
of the Philadelphia Athletics — as a general rule 
tall men make the best first basemen, on account 
of ability to reach far to either side, a long dis- 
tance in front of them, while keeping one foot on 
the bag, and over their heads, to gather in defec- 
tive throws. Chance, perhaps the best first base- 
man of the National League, and Hal Chase, of 
the New York ** Highlanders,'' a left-handed first 
baseman who has set a new standard of first-base 
play, are both tall. 

When Hal Chase first loomed upon the base- 
ball horizon as a first-base player, spectators held 
their breath to see him retire forty and fifty feet 

157 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

behind first base and towards second, closing up 
the gap between the bases and scooping up ball 
after ball, yet always managing either to be on 
first himself or toss safely to the pitcher cover- 
ing the bag. When the ball goes to third, short 
or second. Chase always manages to get back on 
first in time to receive the throw. Other first 
basemen get there with time to spare — Chase gets 
there in time, but does n't waste any. The result 
is he plays further from the bag than any other 
first baseman in the big leagues, covers more 
ground and cuts off more hits than any other man 
covering the position. 

This matter of being left-handed is a tremen- 
dous advantage to a first baseman, because he 
can throw in the act of turning toward second 
or third base, while a right-hander must make his 
stop of the ball, whirl around, and then, with the 
throw, whirl partially back again, losing a full 
moment of time. 

The second baseman's work is, by some, held 
to be the easiest of the infield, because he has 
less need of a strong arm to throw than any other 
infielder. On the other hand, he must needs be 
able to throw from any position, particularly un- 

158 



FIELDING 

derhanded, and with his body twisted into strange 
positions. Many balls come to the second base- 
man all too slowly, slow infield grounders which 
seem to linger on the way while a fleet-footed run- 
ner is tearing down the line to first. The second 
baseman, fielding the ball, mnst be able to throw 
the instant he gets his hands on it, without wait- 
ing to straighten up, take a step, arrange his po- 
sition, or make it easy for him to throw. He 
must throw instantly, accurately, and strongly, 
from any pose into which stopping the ball has 
thrown him. He should be a player who is par- 
ticularly strong on fielding balls which come to 
his left hand, because the faster he can move to 
his left the closer he can play to second base with- 
out leaving too wide a ** groove" between himself 
and the first baseman. 

If there is one thing more than another which 
a short-stop must possess, it is cat-like activity. 
He must be instant in his starting to either side, 
able to range all the way from second to third 
base, equally skilful in stopping balls hit to either 
side of him, able to make the **long throw" to 
first base (that is, from a position deep in the 
infield, well back from a line connecting second 

159 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

and third bases) with perfect accuracy all the 
time, and, like the second baseman, able to throw 
from any position. In choosing a lad for this 
position from among those who are candidates, 
pick him who is quickest on his feet, combined 
with agility to field with either hand, from either 
side of his position. If, in addition, you have 
the services of a player who is calm and cool un- 
der excitement, able to think quickly and act as 
quickly on his thinking, who adds to a strong arm 
a real fielder's quickness of eye and especially 
able in fielding balls on his right hand, you have 
a likely candidate for real short-stop work. Gen- 
erally, short-stops are not big men, nearness to 
the ground and quickness in moving being essen- 
tials to the position, but there are, of course, ex- 
ceptions to this rule. Little Owen Bush, short- 
stop of the Detroit ^* Tigers,'' is at one end of 
the scale, Hans Wagner, the huge German giant, 
short-stop of the Pittsburgh ** Pirates," is at the 
other end, and while, of course, there is little 
comparison between Bush and Wagner when hit- 
ting and base-running come into consideration. 
Bush, with his small size and stature, makes up 
in quickness what Wagner has in height and 

160 



FIELDING 

reach. Yet Wagner, and all big men who play, 
or have played, short-stop, like Lajoie, now sec- 
ond baseman of the Cleveland team, Jennings, 
now manager for Detroit, or McBride, of the 
Washington team, are extraordinarily fast on 
their feet ; otherwise, great size would be more of 
a handicap than an asset. 

Quite outside his ability as a fielder, the short- 
stop must have skill in blocking the runner off 
second base, and ability to ^^put it on'' the runner 
— to touch him with the ball in the minimum of 
time after making a catch. The fraction of a 
second saved in doing this by a fine short-stop 
is often what makes the reputation of a great 
catcher in stopping steals, since, no matter how 
perfect the throw down to stop the man who 
would pilfer second base, if the short-stop, who 
usually takes the throw, or the second baseman, 
who sometimes does, fails to make a perfect catch 
and block and touch, the man is safe. Look at 
the line-up of any great team which has an espe- 
cially noted catcher, and see if you do not find 
in short-stop, or second baseman, or both, stars 
of the first water — the Chicago *'Cubs," when 
they had both Kling and Archer as catchers, and 

161 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

Joe Tinker and Johnny Evers as short-stop and 
second baseman, is a good example. 

Third base is generally conceded to be the most 
difficult place on the infield wherein to become a 
star. Although the short-stop will often have 
more assists to his credit than the third baseman, 
those the third baseman gets usually result from 
brilliant plays. The ball comes *^ hotter'^ to the 
third baseman than to any other fielder, except, 
at times, in a liner to the pitcher, and his throw 
is, all things considered, the hardest to make. 
For the runner, in hitting to first or second, puts 
the ball ahead of him — ^he and it are traveling, in 
a way, in the same direction. But the balls the 
third baseman handles are going in the reverse 
direction to the runner — the greater need, there- 
fore, for speed of catch, recovery, and throw, to 
catch him at first. And, be it noted, the third 
baseman, throwing to first, must throw as far as 
the catcher does in stopping the stealing of sec- 
ond base, with much less time in which to make 
the long throw, and after catching a ball from 
any position or picking it up from any sort of a 
bad bound. 

There is nothing inherently difficult about 
162 



FIELDING 

handling a hot ball — if you know it is coming. 
Catchers handle several hundred hot balls in 
every game. But the third baseman, more than 
any other infielder, has a variety of chances to 
handle. He must be on his toes to come in for 
a tantalizing bunt, and at the same time *^set" 
for a line or ^^ alley'' drive. He must have very 
quick wits, to know what he shall do with the ball 
when he gets it, and be prepared at all times for 
the long throw to first or the quick underhand 
toss to second, or the swift and accurate throw 
home. With a man on second base, the third 
baseman's problems become greatly magnified. 
If the ball is driven at him, will he hold it, to 
keep the runner on second from coming to third, 
thus allowmg the batter to reach first 1 Or should 
he throw to first, retiring the batter and allow 
the man on second a chance to make third? Or 
should he throw to second to catch the man who 
has a long lead? If it is a bunt he is handling, 
he must know whether third has been covered by 
the pitcher or short, whether he has a chance for 
a double play by a quick throw to first and an op- 
portunity himself to get back to third, and must 
never, never forget the man who may be on third, 

163 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

the possible score, and the chance to retire the 
side. All these things the third baseman shares 
with the rest of the team, but on him, who is 
driven at harder and bunted at more, than any 
other member of the infield, the burden lies 
heavy — hence speed and quick wits must not be 
forgotten in choosing the guardian of the third 
sack. 

Because the third baseman gets his hits so hot, 
he must know all there is to know about the pitch, 
the style of batter, and the probabilities of where 
the hit will go. Because he guards the last sta- 
tion before the home plate from the invading 
army of base-runners, he must have a thinking 
machine which runs at top speed. It isn't 
enough for any good infielder to field the ball 
and get the batter ; most particularly should it be 
the third baseman's end and aim in life to put out 
the leading runner, or make a double play. Upon 
him, too, the catcher depends for many throws 
in, to stop a man stealing home, or coming home 
on a grounder, and, inasmuch as a man may slide 
over home plate as much as he will, the sliding, 
diving base-runner comes there with more force 
than to any of the bags, so that there is the more 

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FIELDING 

necessity for accuracy in the throw. Generally 
speaking, medium-sized and small men succeed 
better at third than big men, though here, as 
elsewhere, there are exceptions. Lord, of the 
Chicago American League club, is rather tall than 
short, Devlin, of the ^^ Giants," is certainly not 
small, but McGraw, now managing the New York 
*' Giants," a noted third baseman in his time, is 
little and stocky, and **Kid" Elberfeld, formerly 
of the New York ^^Highlanders," and in 1911 of 
Washington, was a sterling third baseman and the 
smallest man filling that position in either 
League. 

The only way for any infield to play good ball 
is to get together, stick together, play together, 
practise together, work together, talk it over to- 
gether! It is team-work which counts. You see 
the big League men taking ten minutes of prac- 
tice before a game, but you may know they have 
hours and hours of it in the mornings, for there 
never lived a fielder, no matter how finished, who 
couldn't improve himself in his work with prac- 
tice. 

And remember, too, that practice together 
counts for nothing if with it is not developed that 

167 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

esprit de corps which makes each man the real 
helper of his fellow, eager to see the other chap 
^^make good'' and glad to help him do it. Don't 
find fault. The boy who makes an error which 
loses the game feels badly enough. Don't fail to 
praise — the lad who spears a hot one with his 
bare hand and doubles up the man dashing for 
home, retiring the side and nipping a rally, ought 
to have some pats on the back from the rest of 
the team — particularly the rest of the infield. 
Criticize, by all means, when an error of judg- 
ment is made, but forgive the error of play, and 
criticize, when criticize you must, with a slap on 
the back and a friendly word. It 's worth while 
— ** fighting infields" are those which are in har-^ 
mony among themselves — infields without spirit 
are those in which each man plays for himself, 
and is jealous of every other player. 

In nothing is the success of continual practice 
seen to better advantage than in the making of 
double plays. Perhaps the majority of these are 
from short to second, or second to short and then 
to first, whence the necessity of continual prac- 
tice on hot grounders by second and short, who 
must learn to ** scoop" the ball up and toss it to 

168 



FIELDING 

the other man, covering the bag, all in one mo- 
tion. And the second baseman, who will the more 
often cover the bag on snch doubles, must have 
the speed of light in his turning and throw to sec- 
ond — the ^* pivot'' or center position of a double 
play makes its success or failure. Every second 
baseman of note to-day — Evers, Collins, Lajoie, 
Delehanty — lands on the bag with the proper foot 
determined according to the point from which he 
will get the ball from the short-stop, turns even 
as he makes the catch from short, and whirls the 
ball over to first, all with one motion. As, of 
course, double plays do come from all points, and 
as first or third is often the ^* pivot," they too 
must practise the quick throw, the throw without 
a step forward, which saves that tiny fraction of 
a second about which so much fast base-ball is 
built. 

Perhaps the fielding of bunts is as important 
in infield work as anything the fielders have to 
do — and here, too, the pitcher becomes a real in- 
fielder as well as a human gatling gun for the 
firing of balls. Every member of the infield 
must know when a bunt is coming, and play for 
it, and while, of course, there will be times when 

169 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

the batter will bunt once, and hold his bat as if 
to bunt again, thus ^ ^ drawing the infield in, ' ' and 
then *^slam it out'' for a single, the bunt play is 
generally recognized, and the infield able to tell, 
pretty well, that in such situations as a man on 
first, second, or third and none out ; or, a man on 
third and one out; or, bases full and one out; a 
bunt is very likely to come rolling tantalizingly 
over the grass. Similarly, with a weak-fielding 
pitcher, much bunting will be done, and certain 
men on the team, particularly left-handed hitters 
who are very fast on thd&r feet, will often bunt, 
and try to *^beat it to first,'' even without the sit- 
uation of a man ^^on" to be advanced at the ex- 
pense of a sacrifice. 

The pitcher's fielding work here is vital. He 
must be able to run in, field the bunt, and throw 
to base, and he must keep his head and know 
whether or not to throw to first or second. If 
the ball rolls down the first-base foul-line, he 
must know instinctively and decide on the instant, 
whether he, or the catcher, or the first baseman, 
can best field it, and if it is not for him to field, 
he must cover first base on the run. In fact, the 
pitcher must cover first base whenever the ball 

170 



FIELDING 

pulls the first baseman well forward or far back, 
for while wonderful defensive plays, in which the 
second baseman covers first on infield grounders 
to first baseman, playing deep, have been devised, 
it is the pitcher ^s work, and he should not shirk 
and should practise, practise, practise, on that 
sudden run to first and deft catching of the often 
hurriedly tossed ball. 

First, second, short, and third, playing in for 
a bunt, must remember that they have bags to 
guard, and, with runners on the paths, should 
hustle to their bags tife instant they see some 
one else is fielding the bunt, for, be it noted well, 
there is no use simply fielding the ball; it must 
be fielded and thrown, thrown accurately, thrown 
in time, and thrown to some one on a base, who 
will catch it in order to make a play. And, if the 
play is not a force, it must be thrown in time and 
low enough to enable a man on the base to catch 
it and tag the runner — if there is no one on base 
to take the throw, all the fielding in the world 
won't put the man out. 

Fielders, both in and out, must back each other 
up. Train your team to do this all the time — 
there is the more necessity in your case than in 

171 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

the big Leagues, for, naturally, a team of lads 
will make more errors than a team of profes- 
sional experts, the pick of the country's ball-play- 
ing athletes. All major League teams are prac- 
tised all the time in ^^ backing up.'' The center- 
fielder should run up behind short, and in line 
with the coming ball and second base, when the 
catcher throws to stop a man stealing, so that if 
the throw ^ ^ gets by, ' ' it may be retrieved without 
allowing still another base; second gets be- 
hind first when first runs in on a bunt, if he is n't 
covering second ; the pitcher will back up any base- 
man on throws in from the outfield, and should 
cover home plate on bunts the catcher goes after, 
if there is a man on third. The pitcher will also 
back up the catcher on long throws in from the 
outfield to home plate. Similarly, in running a 
man down between third and home, the pitcher 
must ^^get in the game," running to the plate as 
the catcher chases the runner toward third, taking 
the throw home, running himself up toward third, 
taking the third baseman's place as he, in turn, 
chases the runner home toward the now waiting 
catcher, etc., etc. Pitchers who are lazy in field- 
ing are only half-pitchers, and between an earnest, 

172 



FIELDING 

hustling, hard-working pitcher who is fair in de- 
livery, and an expert who is lazy, most managers 
would prefer the pitcher with ambition. 

Plays in which the pitcher fails to cover the 
plate are rare, nowadays — the pitchers are too 
well taught by managers who know the game. 
But they are not rare in base-ball history. Wash- 
ington, never much of a factor in the pennant 
race, but always bobbing up and winning games 
at the wrong time, according to the ideas of 
teams which are in the race, once lost a chance 
on this very play. Kittridge was catching — and 
Kittridge was a quick thinker. There were run- 
ners on first and second and the batter hit to 
short, who threw to Kittridge, cutting off the 
runner on third, who happened to be Keeler, from 
the plate. The man on second, of course, ran to 
third, and Kittridge chased Keeler back to third. 
Keeler dodged, expecting Kittridge to throw to 
the third baseman, when he, Keeler, might sprint 
for home. But Kittridge, seeing a chance for a 
double play, jumped past Keeler to get the run- 
ner from second, standing ^^ flat-footed^^ and 
** waiting for the bag.'' But the runner was 
alert and **beat him to it," landing safely on 

173 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

third. So Kittridge whirled and threw to the 
plate almost without looking, to catch the flying 
Keeler. And, as he threw, he saw the pitcher in- 
terestedly watching the play, the first baseman 
also a spectator, and heard the ball hit the grand 
stand. So, of course, the man on third trotted 
cheerfully home after Keeler, and Kittridge said 
— ^well, you can imagine what he thought, at least I 
Infielders must learn to throw more than one 
way. In addition to the snap-throw from any 
position, any infielder must know how to ** shoot" 
the ball when necessary, that is, send it nearly on 
a line from base to base, but should not shoot 
when ** arching it over,'' as the higher, more 
curved throw is called, will do, simply because 
the harder the throw the greater the chance of 
error. The pitcher who fields a grounder, al- 
most at his feet, and turns and throws with all 
his might to a first baseman, is as foolish as he 
who holds the ball and laughs, because he has 
plenty of time, and finally slams it in to the wait- 
ing baseman's mit. Take your time for a throw, 
when you have time, and give the fielder the 
easiest chance possible by throwing easily when 
you can. To throw hard when you don't have 

174 



A SAFE HIT 
Batsman reacMng first base 




CAUGHT AT THE PLATE 
Always an exciting play 



FIELDING 

to is taking a chance, be your control what it may, 
that the ball will get away from you and go wild 
— which is poor base-ball. And never, never 
throw* if you think it is too late — never throw just 
to show you can, or because it seems that the 
crowd, watching, wants you to. Holding the ball 
instead of throwing when the throw is sure to be 
too late, even if but a fraction of a second, is 
good base-ball, for every throw is potentially a 
wild one — and a wild throw may ** throw away 
the game." 

The question between second baseman and 
short-stop, of covering second base, is vital. 
There should be a perfect understanding between 
the two as to which will take the catcher's throws. 
The understanding may well be helped by a sig- 
nal, or a verbal call. Of course, with batters who 
hit more often to right field, the second baseman 
is not so near to the base as short-stop, hence it 
is then short-stop's business to cover second on a 
throw to stop a steal. On all balls hit through 
short-stop or third baseman, especially if short 
is backing up the third baseman, the second base- 
man must cover second. Never should both 
cover it, and one or the other should have the 

177 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

command, so that, if both start for the base on a 
ball neither is to field, the word of one is final. 
This is particularly vital when it comes to ^ * stop- 
ping up the grooves." Every ball-player knows 
that a space about two feet wide from each foul 
line at the bases, a space seven or eight feet wide 
between first and second baseman, and second 
baseman and short-stop, and short-stop and third 
baseman, is a groove down which any fast 
grounder or line ball is likely to be a safe hit. 
But, although there is about twenty-five feet — 
sometimes thirty feet — of infield territory un- 
defended out of a total of one hundred and eighty 
feet, only about ten in every hundred and eighty 
fast infield grounders result in hits, in the major 
league. This is the result of * inside base-ball," 
in which the infielders, knowing the batter, his 
probable direction of hit, and the pitch to be 
*^ handed" him, leave some of the gaps wide open, 
and close others up, by shifting their positions. 
If short-stop and second baseman have not a 
full and complete understanding of when each 
is to cover second base and a perfectly working 
signal, this inside play is impossible, and balls 
will go safe which should never result in hits. 

178 



FIELDING 

The necessity of covering second by some one, 
and that ^^some one'' well understood beforehand, 
hardly needs illustration. But a game between 
the ^* Cubs'' and the Brooklyn '^Superbas" might 
have been played to illustrate it. It was in 1908, 
when every game counted — when it was ^^Cubs" 
or ** Giants," and every game either played was 
vital. At this particular time, the score was 
tied, and Hofman was on second. Bergen, catch- 
ing for Brooklyn, signed for a ** pitch out," hop- 
ing to catch Hofman napping. The sign was 
plain, Hofman saw it, and second base and short- 
stop saw Hofman saw it. Consequently, they 
thought Bergen would not throw. But Bergen, 
getting his pitch out, and seeing Hofman — who 
is very **foxy" — still had a big lead from second, 
threw. Brooklyn's short and second baseman 
stood, *^ flat-footed," in their tracks. The ball 
went to center field, and the center-fielder, also 
somewhat napping, hadn't ** backed up" enough 
to get the ball in time to catch Hofman, who 
scored. That game tied Chicago with New York 
for the pennant! 

It is vital that all the infielders know the outs, 
the balls, the strikes, and the coming pitch, other- 

179 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

wise they cannot plan their play ahead. And be- 
fore every ball pitched, each infielder must make 
up his mind, from the men '*on'' and the state of 
the score, and the balls and strikes, just what he 
will do with it if it comes his way, and here, 
again, second and short must work together and 
know each other's intentions, otherwise their best 
efforts may be wasted. 

Definitions of ** inside base-ball" are many. 
But perhaps the most comprehensive in the few- 
est words is this: '^Getting in motion toward the 
spot where the ball is coming, before it starts. ' ' 

If your infield can do that — start moving to 
the point where the ball is likely to come, before 
the batter hits it — you have developed much of 
the science of ** inside ball." A player in motion 
can move ten or twelve feet in the same time an- 
other player is starting to move. The only way 
you can know where the ball is to be hit is by 
studying the batter, knowing his style of hitting, 
knowing the pitch, and figuring the result. And 
** inside ball," to be effective, must be played by 
the whole team, therefore every one must know 
the pitch and understand batters, their strength 
and weaknesses. 

180 



FIELDING 

The outfield is not so busy a place as the in- 
field, but is equally important. The old idea that 
^'all an outfielder has to do is to catch flies'' has 
disappeared. While fly-catching and ability to 
hold every ball you can get your hands on, is the 
foundation of outfield work, it is but a small part 
of it. The outfielder must get under ^impossi- 
ble balls," and, therefore, must be very fast. He 
must be a strong and accurate thrower and think 
with lightning speed ; the old instruction given to 
a new outfielder, *^ Throw the ball to second base 
after a single," will no longer serve as the main 
rule of outfield throws in. True, after a single, 
the ball belongs at second base, and not else- 
where, unless there is a man on second scooting 
to third, when it may belong home. If the fly is 
short and falls a few feet in front of the fielder, 
who may then get the runner at first, if he slows 
up, the ball belongs at first. 

The thinking part of an outfielder's work is 
as important as the mechanical part, and the 
mechanical part of throwing — when, to whom, 
and why — is just as important as the catching of 
flies, the backing up of infielders and the rest of 
an outfielder's work. 

181 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

In all balls batted to the outfield which have 
to be ** chased/* there must be perfect under- 
standing of who chases and who relays. An out- 
field captain, then, should be appointed, and his 
word be law. There is no time to discuss a play- 
when it is happening. The relay man should get 
the ball from the ^^ chaser'' on a perfect throw, 
and turning, become a pivot, almost as if he were 
the pivot man in an infield double play, and 
throw, probably to the plate, perhaps to third base. 
If possible, do not throw direct to the plate ; that 
is, if you have time enough, strive to throw the 
ball so it will strike the catcher's glove on the 
bound. Otherwise the shock of meeting the 
throw, its inaccuracy by a foot or more, will make 
it impossible for him to touch out the sliding run- 
ner. Don't throw to the plate if you can't make 
it in time ; throw rather to third to make an ''out" 
on a runner and let the run score. Better one 
run and an '^out" than a run, a spectacular throw, 
no ''out," and a man on third! 

First-class outfielders back each other up when 
possible. Of course, right field does not cut 
across to help left field catch an easy fly, but 
center goes to right and left to back up deep 

182 



FIELDING 

catches or forward to help in the relay, if neces- 
sary, and if short-stop and second baseman are 
too busy on bags to take their proper part in re- 
lays. No good outfield holds *^ conventions,'' 
the '* After you, my dear Alphonse'' act, as the 
bleachers call it, when both center and right or 
center and left chase madly after a ball, stop 
within ten feet of each other, and watch each 
other miss it. Have a rule, or a captain, and 
obey one or the other — there is no excuse for 
muffing a ball on which you get your hands, and 
less for letting a ball drop safe ^* because I 
thought he was going to take it!'' 

Most outfields are ^^sunfields," hard to play 
in the afternoon, and very hard on the eyes. 
'* Losing the ball in the sun" is one of the out- 
fielders' troubles. Its cure is practice in the sun- 
field, the use of the mit to shield the eyes, and a 
quick and sure judgment of where the ball is go- 
ing, from your first glimpse of it, without that 
steady looking at it and the sun at the same time 
which blinds the eyes in a few seconds. Also, if 
there be time, try catching a ball while standing 
sidewise to its line of flight. This allows one to 
look up, without looking at the sun at the same 

183 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

time, — an outfield ^ ^ trick '^ well worth knowing 
and often of great value. 

Perhaps the most vital thing an outfielder has 
to learn is to *'get rid of the ball." You have no 
use for it, after you have caught it. Some other 
fielder has urgent need of it. Give it to him. 
Don't hold it — throw it. Throw it to the right 
place, but throw it, anyway. When you see Cobb, 
Wheat, or Speaker making a double play from the 
outfield, you realize what a quick ^^ get-away'' is. 
Men making ready to run on swift throwers like 
these are always in doubt whether they can beat 
the throw; many a man has been caught flat- 
footed, jogging slowly back to base after a fly has 
been caught by a lively outfielder, because he 
threw in in a twinkling with speed and accuracy, 
to the base toward which the runner was return- 
ing too slowly. 

It is as vital for the outfielder as for any other 
player to know the strikes, the balls, and the 
^^outs." He, like all other players, must con- 
sider the state of the game, the runners on, and 
decide before each play what he will do with the 
ball if he gets it. He must know batters and the 
pitcher's signal from the catcher, if he can get 

184 



FIELDING 

it. Why! Because there are four huge outfield 
*^ grooves" where long flies mean singles, two 
and three baggers, sometimes home runs. The 
only way three men can cover all the ground of 
an outfield is by knowing where each batter is 
likely to hit, and what sort of a hit he is likely 
to make from any pitched ball, and then to place 
themselves that they will be in the best position to 
field that ball. Getting there before the ball is 
hit is the inside play of the outfield. Watch any 
good major League outfield, and see it shift for 
the different batters, angling in and to the left for 
the right-handed, weak batter, when a slow ball is 
to be pitched him, hurrying over to the right and 
'way back when a noted driver of right-field hits 
has the pitcher ^4n a hole'' so that next one must 
be right over. For the certain men who hit al- 
most anything, anywhere — the Wagners, Magees, 
Cobbs, Lajoies, Speakers, Crawfords, etc., the out- 
fielder must trust to his judgment — he cannot 
play them as he would men whose style and rec- 
ord prove the direction of most of their hits. But 
even with such men, knowing what the pitch is to 
be will help, since any right-handed hitter is more 
likely to hit a fast pitch, on the outside corner, 

187 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

to right field than to left, a slow pitch to left field 
than to right, and the reverse if he be a left- 
handed hitter. 

Perhaps the most exciting game of base-ball 
ever played, all things considered, was that which 
Chicago and New York, tied for first place at the 
end of the National League season, as a result 
of a previous game being given to Chicago be- 
cause Merkle forgot to touch second base on his 
hit when what would otherwise have been the win- 
ning run came over the plate, played off. New 
York lost the extra game. Chicago won it with 
a rally starting with a tremendous drive by Tin- 
ker, short-stop of the *^Cubs," off Mathewson, 
the famous pitcher of the * ^Giants.'' Mathew- 
son, fearing Tinker, who had been hitting him 
hard, signaled Seymour, in center, to go back. 
He believed that if Tinker hit the '*fade-away" 
ball at all, it would result in a long, long fly. 
Seymour disagreed. He thought a low line fly 
was probable. But '^ Matty" was right. He 
pitched the ^^fader,'' Tinker smote it with a 
mighty swat, and it rose and sailed and sailed — 
and underneath it, no one knows what despera- 
tion in his heart, raced Seymour, striving to get 

188 



FIELDING 

there as soon as the ball did, realizing that he had 
disobeyed the signal. But Seymour is human 
and that ball was inhuman. And it dropped 
safely, rolling to the surrounding crowd, Tinker 
making three bases on it. Had Seymour played 
the *^ inside game,'' as ^^ Matty" had given him a 
chance to do, he would have been where the ball 
was hit before it started ! 

Certain outfields play always the *^ outside dis- 
tance," that is, as far back as they dare for the 
farthest-hit balls, depending on speed to allow 
them to come in for short flies. Others play the 
^* inside distance," figuring that there are more 
short than very long flies, and that the difficulty 
of going back for a long fly is less than that of 
coming in for half a dozen short ones. Other 
outfields play the middle distance, or shift con- 
stantly with different batters. But, of late years, 
the outfield has been gradually creeping in, since 
inside ball, better pitching, and a knowledge of 
batters cut down the number of high, long flies, 
and better outfielding has enabled men to turn 
and run with the ball and make *^ grand stand" 
catches with one hand. Lajoie, in a moment of 
disgust after Milan, a remarkably speedy out- 

189 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

fielder who plays center field for Washington, 
had speared what appeared to be a three-base- 
line fly, high in air, on a dead run to deep left 
center, remarked: 

'^Outfielders are not what they used to be. 
They used to let us hit the fence, once in a while. 
Now they run three miles, jump fourteen feet in 
the air, and catch impossible balls at the backs of 
their necks with their thumbs!'' 

Plain catching of easy flies is good fun in 
practice, but little use after the eye and hands are 
trained. The great fielding outfielders, like 
Wheat, or Cobb, or Speaker, must learn to ''run 
three miles and catch them on their thumbs!" 
Practise catching flies which you can't catch! 
Practise running, for speed is half the outfield- 
er's stock in trade; practise making the impossi- 
ble play, and some day you will pull it off. 
Practise, too, in winds, high and low; learn to 
figure on the wind and what it will do, for just 
so surely as you fail to do so, just so surely will 
a hard-hit drive act against a head wind just as 
the massed billow of air acts on a fast pitch — 
cause the ball to "jump" and "shoot," and you 
will miss the catch which wind practice and judg- 

190 



FIELDING 

ment would have permitted you to catch, and per- 
haps with it lose the game. 

Spectacular outfield catches are daily features 
of almost every game. Some are historic. 
Among them is ^'Wee Willie" Keeler's famous 
catch on the slanting fence in right field at Balti- 
more, in the Oriole days, when Baltimore had 
a club which was world famous. It was in the 
fag-end of the season, and Boston and Baltimore 
were tearing each other to pieces to win the pen- 
nant. Stahl, always a terrific hitter, drove a fly 
to right that looked good for a home run. 
Keeler, always fast, started after the ball. He 
ran as long as he could at the base of the fence, 
which sloped upward at an angle, then turned and 
ran up the fence. As he neared the top, the ball 
began to drop — over the fence! But Keeler 
caught it, ran along the top of the fence for a mo- 
ment, holding it aloft — then fell over! You can 
imagine the ovation he received when he returned, 
limping, but happy! 



191 



CHAPTER VII 

Generalship of Defense 

INSIDE base-balP' reaches its highest devel- 
opment in the defensive game. No one can 
reduce the matter to figures, but from the differ- 
ence in the performance between teams of skilled 
players, and teams with less individual brilliancy 
but greater practice in working together, it seems 
fair to say that a good system of * inside base- 
ball," a ^* clockwork" infield, and brains in the 
defensive general, will win, other things being 
equal, over a team of much better players who 
depend only on ^^ straight" base-ball for making 
scores. In other words, a first-class infield de- 
fense will nullify hitting and destroy the effec- 
tiveness of base-running in a great many circum- 
stances where '* straight" base-ball (meaning 
only the stereotyped plays) would be ineffective. 
''* Inside" defense requires, generally speaking, 
quicker thinking and acting and better base-ball 
brains than ^4nside" offense, for the simple rea- 

192 



GENERALSHIP OP DEFENSE 

son that the offensive general has time to plan 
ahead, and knows in advance what he is going to 
do. The defensive general must often wait un- 
til the offense is in action before he plans and 
executes a counter move. Frequently, of course, 
he outguesses the offense before the play, but as 
often, an unforeseen strategic move will be set in 
motion, whereupon his defensive genius is put to 
the greatest test. Moreover, the defensive base- 
ball army must often play first and get orders 
afterward. When an unexpected double steal is 
attempted, there is no time to get orders from the 
bench. It is because of this necessity to play 
the game at the instant and on the instant, in de- 
fense, that team-work, practice, and familiarity 
with a code of signals are an absolute necessity 
for good *4nside'' defensive work. 

Never forget this : for every offense, there is a 
defense ; for every plan or act which may result in 
a base-hit, a stolen base, a run, there is a counter 
plan, a defensive act, by which the players in the 
field may nullify the batter's efforts. If, as 
sometimes happens, the defense and the offense 
are exactly equal, a tie game results, or a called 
game with no score. And if the offense was al- 

193 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

ways perfect and the defense always impreg- 
nable, then base-ball would cease to be a game, 
and become simply an exhibition of mechanical 
perfection. 

But just when the offense is in despair because 
the pitcher and the fielders work so perfectly, a 
cinder will get in the pitcher's eye, or his arm 
will tire, or an infielder will stub his toe, and — 
something happens! Or at exactly the moment 
when the defense is getting discouraged because, 
despite all their efforts, a man is ^^on'' and grad- 
ually getting around the bases, the pitcher will 
regain control and strike out two men; or a fast 
double play will retire the side with the bases 
full; or some other defensive ^^stunf will work, 
and ^'inside ball" is again justified. It is things 
like these that make base-ball the beautiful sport 
it is; you never know what is going to happen 
until it has happened! 

As has been pointed out, the first line of de- 
fense is ^^the battery" — pitcher and catcher. 
Their work only begins with the attempt to strike 
out the batter. ^^ Getting him" on the bases, and 
in attempting a steal, is almost entirely in the 
hands of the pitcher and catcher. The pitcher 

194 




"CHIEF" BENDER 
Leading pitehor of the Philadelphia Athletics 



GENEEALSHIP OF DEFENSE 

who can hold the base-runner to first base, or 
^^have him going back" toward first base when 
he pitches, is ^'playing the game" and preventing 
a score, perhaps as much as if he had struck out 
the man in the first place. 

Pitchers, therefore, should study how best they 
can throw to first with the least warning. The 
rules require the step toward the base, of course, 
and to make a balk in the hope that the umpire 
will not see it, is both unfair and unsportsman- 
like. But many pitchers have a ^^balk motion" 
which is not, under the rules, actually a balk, and 
which is, therefore, perfectly legitimate and much 
to be desired. 

Perhaps the greatest exponent of the art of 
*^ balking without balking" was Kilroy, who, by 
patiently pitching at a mark on a fence, which 
stood for first base, while looking at another mark 
which stood for home plate, finally trained his 
muscles so that he could throw suddenly and 
without looking, and hit the mark. He had little 
skill as a pitcher, at this time, his arm being worn 
out, but while he passed many men, and his de- 
livery was ^^hit" often, he managed to ^^nip" the 
runner at first so frequently with his ^^near- 

197 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

balk" that he stopped base-running. His team 
(Chicago) managed to pnll off an astonishing 
number of double plays whenever Kilroy was 
pitching, because when he failed to get a runner 
at first, it was because that runner, at first, 
'* hugged the bag," and so made double plays an 
easy possibility. 

But it is not the holding of men at first, or 
catching them off it, but at second and third, 
which calls for the best * inside" play in this par- 
ticular department. As an illustration of the 
lengths to which ball-players will go, let us con- 
sider a scheme tried and occasionally worked 
with success, first, so it is said, by the ball team 
of Yale University, and later by the various 
League clubs. The idea is based on a psycholog- 
ical experiment, in which two people, after prac- 
tice, start counting mentally, together, and see 
how near they can come to the same number in a 
given interval. The accuracy obtainable is as- 
tonishing; any two boys can learn to count, si- 
lently, starting together, to ten or twelve, and get 
to the last number together, with practice of half 
an hour. 

The catcher, seeing the runner on second take 
198 



GENERALSHIP OF DEFENSE 

a big lead, signals the pitcher and the second 
baseman — let us suppose by dropping his glove 
and picking it up. The instant it drops, the 
pitcher and the second baseman begin to count. 
The short-stop runs in to the bag, the runner do- 
ing likewise, of course. The short-stop backs 
well away again, and the runner, misled, and see- 
ing the second baseman also well away, takes an 
even bigger lead than before. At some predeter- 
mined number, say seven, the second baseman 
runs to the b^g. The runner, seeing the pitcher 
making no move to throw, either does not move 
or moves slowly. But at another number, say 
nine, predetermined in practice, the pitcher whirls 
and throws instantly, without waiting to see if 
any one is on the bag, thus saving that tiny frac- 
tion of a second. If the counting has been ac- 
curate and the practice good, the ball and the 
second baseman's hands will connect over the bag 
accurately, and the runner will, in all probability, 
be out. That is ^ inside'' ball with a vengeance, 
but it shows to what minute details the develop- 
ment of the game can be carried. 

Catchers will often succeed by a trick of per- 
sonality. Certain pitchers pitch better to certain 

199 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

catcHers than to others — the famous *^ battery'' 
idea again. Certain catchers can ** jolly'' a 
pitcher, by talking to him, encouraging him, 
blaming him just enough for mistakes, speaking 
sharply only just enough to get results, flattering 
him, encouraging him, where a silent catcher may 
fail. Other pitchers resent this ^^baby talk," and 
like to be let alone, save for a quiet word of en- 
couragement. And what is true of men is true 
of boys, here. The good catcher learns to know 
his pitchers and their likes, and to steady the 
^^wabblers," encourage the faint-hearted, and 
praise the competent, thus getting from them the 
best they have to give. 

Connie Mack tells a story of Mike Kelly, 
'^King" Kelly, of the famous battery of Clarkson 
and Kelly, to show what a catcher can do, as a 
defensive player, in helping a pitcher to pitch 
winning ball. It was when the two famous play- 
ers had been disposed of to Boston, and during 
a game in which Boston was a run ahead of 
Washington (in the days when the National 
League was the only major League). Boston 
was fighting New York for the pennant, and 
every game counted. With no one out, Clark- 

200 



GENERALSHIP OF DEFENSE 

son suddenly lost control of the ball, and, al- 
most before he knew it, the bases were filled — 
still no one out. Kelly was playing in right field 
and Ganzel was catching. Kelly came running in 
from the field and implored his manager, Jimmy 
Hart, to let him go behind the bat. Hart as- 
sented, so Ganzel and Kelly changed places. 

Daly was at bat, and two balls had been called 
by the umpire on Clarkson. But Kelly knew 
Clarkson and Clarkson knew Kelly, and Kelly, as 
never a man before him and seldom one since, 
knew batters. And Kelly ** nursed" Clarkson as 
a nurse watches a sick baby, and — Daly struck 
out. 

The next man at bat tried to fool Clarkson into 
passing him, but Kelly outguessed him, so that 
he struck at the wide ones and stood still for the 
strikes, and he, also, went out on strikes. Hoy 
was the next man up, and Kelly teased him by 
calling for slow ones and fast ones, so that he 
hit one of the latter and popped up a little foul 
which Kelly neatly caught, — and the side was 
out, and never threatened thereafter. Three men 
were held on the bases, while three others of their 
side were put out, in * ^ one, two, three ' ' order ! 

201 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

There are, of course, a host of defensive plays 
in which the catcher has a leading part. With a 
man on third and one on first, and the man on first 
stealing, the catcher must decide on the instant 
whether he will throw to second, or third, or 
pitcher, or short. It will depend on many things : 
the state of the game, the character of the runner 
on third, the speed of the base-stealer. 

Suppose the man on third is very fast, a junior 
Cobb or Collins, a player who can think quickly 
and run like a flash; the chances are he will try 
to score when the man on first steals second. 
Therefore, a pitch out is ordered, and the ball 
sent high and fast back to the short-stop, as the 
man on first dashes for second. The short-stop 
runs into the diamond twenty feet, takes this 
^* short throw'' and returns it to the catcher, to 
catch the man coming in from third. But sup- 
pose the man on first does n't go to second. Sup- 
pose two pitch outs are made. Then the batter 
has the pitcher ^4n a hole." He is probably 
taking a good ^Hoe hold," expecting the next ball 
over the plate, and if he hits it, may score two 
runs for his side. The alert general will order 
two more pitch outs, perhaps, passing the batter 

202 



GENERALSHIP OF DEFENSE 

and filling the bases. The great advantage of 
this move is that it provides a chance for a force 
play at any base — thus, the next batter up must 
hit cleanly. A ball which any infielder can get 
his hands on will prevent a score, since it can be 
fielded to any of the three bases, the nearest one, 
and, by ** forcing'' the third *^out,'' prevent the 
run from scoring. 

If it is the ninth inning, and the catcher's side 
is two runs or more ahead, he may let the man on 
third steal home and catch the man stealing sec- 
ond. If the man on third is a poor base-runner, 
the catcher may merely *^ bluff" the throw, and 
whirl and throw to third base, thus catching the 
runner between the bases and running him down. 
Or he may ** bluff" the throw and hold it, and, 
pretending to toss the ball to the pitcher, whip 
it to short-stop or third baseman, getting the run- 
ner on third base by a *^ delayed throw trick" and 
catching him so completely by surprise, that he 
has no time to run at all, but is **out" with a jab 
of the ball in his ribs before he knows what has 
happened. And if, on a throw to third, the run- 
ner on third gets back to the bag safely, some- 
times a quick throw to first or second will **nip" 

203 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

a runner who is too interested in the play at third 
to watch for his own safety. 

The good base-ball general, acting on the de- 
fensive, must consider his catcher, his pitcher, the 
men running, the state of the game, the score, 
the innings, the batting order, and — and — well, 
he must consider everything! But as carefully 
as anything else, he must consider the use of his 
reserves, and when it is time to throw in fresh 
strength against the enemy, not only in offense, 
but in defense. This, of course, involves mostly 
the changing of pitchers when the one at work 
is being freely ''found" and does not seem to be 
''right" and to "have little stuff" on the ball. 
The study of pitchers, and their strengths and 
weaknesses, is a great part of the defensive gen- 
eraPs work in big League ball, and knowing 
when to change pitchers has won many a game. 

When Fielder Jones managed the Chicago 
"White Sox" (American League), he was 
noted for the frequency with which he changed 
players and pitchers, sent in pinch-hitters, and 
substituted men on the infield and the outfield 
as the opposing sides changed pitchers. In one 
game he used no less than five pitchers, and won 

204 




A CYCLONIC SLIDE 
A hard task for the umpire 



?:^"':"rs.rsss.rr"!2ssa 



■'T!-'T'r 




JUST BEATING THE BALL! 



GENERALSHIP OF DEFENSE 

it. When the *^ White Sox'' got in a crip- 
pled condition and only one pitcher was in real 
form, Jones frequently used him to pitch an in- 
ning, half an inning, several times one ball, and 
thus *^ spread'' Walsh, his star pitcher, **thin," 
but so flavored his games with Walsh's fine pitch- 
ing that he all but won his pennant. 

In nothing does the base-ball general show his 
genius to better advantage than in the devising 
of a set of signals and the careful, painstaking 
training of his men to understand them. As has 
been said, those signals which are merely arbi- 
trary meanings attached to natural movements 
or words, are usually most esteemed in big 
Leagues, because easy to change and easy to re- 
member. 

Defensive signals are better as they are small 
in number. They are those the catcher uses to 
the pitcher, telling him what to pitch, and are, as 
has been said, variations of the position of the 
open or closed hand in the big glove; those the 
catcher uses with the infield to signal when he 
will throw to a base, from a wide pitched ball — 
and a good team will need no signal for this, be- 
cause the infield will catch the signal for a 

207 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

*^ waster'' when it is given the pitcher and know 
where it is to be thrown by the number of men 
**on'' and where they are; the signals short-stop 
and second baseman have with each other as to 
which will take a throw from catcher on a '* steal- 
stopping" play, and the signals from the bench 
when a play of the offense is detected or guessed. 
Thus, if the bench general thinks a double steal 
is to be attempted, he must decide whether he 
will instruct the catcher or let the catcher handle 
it; if the former, whether he wants to let a run 
score to get a sure out; whether he will let the 
steal be attempted and trust to fielding to cut 
off the run, or if he will waste a ball and try to 
stop the steal that way ; and so on through all the 
variations. He must, therefore, have some sig- 
nals by which he can indicate his wishes, if he 
meddles in defensive plays of this kind. Gen- 
erally speaking, such matters are better left to 
the catcher, unless the general is a player in the 
field, when he will be able to signal the catcher 
with ease because the catcher is facing him. As 
good a signal code as can be used is probably 
the combination of a sentence with a name: this, 
*'Play for the runner" means exactly the oppo- 

208 



GENERALSHIP OF DEFENSE 

site (play for the batter), while **Play for the 
runner, Tom," may mean a ** waste'' ball 
wanted, and **Play for the runner, Tom; play for 
the runner,'' may mean, '^Let him hit and play 
for the easiest out." 

The principal signals used by the defense were 
discussed in the chapter on fielding; defensive 
signaling is more concerned with getting players 
in motion toward where the ball is likely to be 
hit than anything else, and as this depends upon 
a knowledge of batters and the pitch, it is more 
a matter between the catcher, pitcher, and in- 
field, and a general understanding, than any spe- 
cial signals outside these from the catcher to the 
pitcher calling for certain kinds of balls to be de- 
livered. 

But defensive signals, if comparatively few in 
number, must be well understood, or disaster may 
result. 

At least once in a World's Championship game. 
Bush and Delehanty, short-stop and second base- 
man of the Detroit ' ^ Tigers, ' ' started in opposite 
directions as the ball was pitched, letting it go 
safe between them — the result of ** crossed" sig- 
nals. 

209 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

While it is true that mucli of the defense must 
be instantaneous, and dependent on what the of- 
fense does, there is a certain amount of defensive 
planning which can be considered before the 
game. Thus, if the opposing battery is weak on 
fielding, in the offense you may order a bunting 
game. In the defense, the converse is true — ^if 
you are going against a team noted for fleetness 
of foot and strength of bunts, put in your best 
fielding pitcher. If your opponents are fleet of 
foot and daring of heart on the paths, and run 
at any excuse or with none at all, turn to that 
catcher who is sharpest and cleanest in his throw- 
ing and headiest in his work against men on the 
bases, even if he be himself a poor ^* sticker" and 
slow on the paths. Choose a left-handed pitcher 
to stop stealing, rather than a right-hander, other 
things being equal. In other words, when you 
are on the offense, find the weakness of your op- 
ponents and play to it ; when you are on the de- 
fensive, find their strength and guard against 
their using it as much as you may. It is but the 
work of the general commanding an army in the 
field, in modified and smaller form. He looks for 
his enemy ^s weak spot, the point in his lines 

210 



GENERALSHIP OF DEFENSE 

which will give way the easiest, and charges that 
spot; on defense, he looks to his enemy's strong- 
est attack ; if it be artillery, he gets his men under 
cover, if it be a corps of seasoned men who can 
stand forced marches, he guards against an at- 
tack in the rear; if it be sharp-shooters, he de- 
ploys deep skirmish-lines to meet them and keep 
them at a distance, and so on. 

Don't imagine for an instant that everything 
about base-ball has been discovered, tried, or 
played; don't copy the big Leaguer just because 
he is a big Leaguer. Invent a play, if you can, 
and try it. It may well be that it will work, with 
you, where it might fail, in the big League, be- 
cause of the difference in size and strength of 
the players. 

There is a little base-ball story, which 
may be true or may be an invention, but 
which is perfectly possible, at least. Every lad 
who plays short-stop knows that the closer the 
second baseman can play to the bag, the easier 
his job is, since the less ground he has to cover. 
The second baseman, of course, can play closer 
to second base as the first baseman gets farther 
away from first base. Now, in the old days, first 

211 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

basemen played all the time on the bag. They 
never thought of playing *^deep'' and helping the 
second baseman, and thus helping the second 
baseman to help the short-stop. It is related of 
Comisky, the owner of the Chicago ** White 
Sox," that when he was manager of the 
St. Louis *^ Browns," and, to the scandal of the 
rest of the League, developed his pitchers to be 
fielders, he received his idea from a team of 
*^sand lotters" under sixteen years of age. Ac- 
cording to the story, Comisky was taking a walk 
one afternoon, and stopped to watch two teams 
of lads playing ball. The first baseman, as was 
customary then, played near his bag. But just 
before the pitch, this first baseman ran way back 
into the deep infield. The batter hit to him 
sharply, and Comisky turned away, expecting 
nothing better than that the batter would be safe, 
since the baseman could not get back in time. 
But the shrill cries of the small audience made 
him turn back just in time to see the diminutive 
pitcher reach first base a step ahead of the run- 
ner and receive the ball thrown from the equally 
diminutive first baseman, thirty feet away. The 
base-ball world knows that Comisky 's St. Louis 

212 



GENERALSHIP OF DEFENSE 

team revolutionized that part of the defensive 
game. That a boys' team started the revolution 
is the tale — at any rate, it is a good story. Inci- 
dentally, it may be said that a similar story is 
told of Callahan, of the ^^ White Sox," and a de- 
fensive play to stop a double deal, in which, with 
men on third and first, the pitcher throws to third 
and he instantly to second, to catch the trailing, 
not the leading man, which, so the story goes, 
Callahan evolved from seeing boys play it that 
way. But no one really knows. 

The most famous inside base-ball defensive 
play ever made, judging by the furore it created, 
was that in which Johnny Evers, the second base- 
man of the Chicago **Cubs," managed to keep 
his team in the race and finally to win the cov- 
eted pennant over New York by a one-game mar- 
gin, in 1908. Eeference is made, of course, to 
the famous ^'Merkle incident.*' It will bear re- 
telling, in a few words, for the sake of the brains 
that turned Merkle's slip into a pennant for Chi- 
cago. In the last half of the ninth inning, with 
the score one to one, Merkle on first base, Mc- 
Cormick on third base, Bridwell at bat, two out, 
and the outcome of the game deciding the pen- 

213 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

nant, practically, the moment was about as tense 
as any which ever arrived in base-ball. Bridwell 
hit safely, cleanly, a line hit to center field. Mc- 
Cormick crossed the plate. Bridwell touched first 
base. The crowd went mad. New York had ap- 
parently won, two to one. But Evers, still stand- 
ing on second, called for the ball, got it, and 
claimed that Merkle, who had trotted to the club- 
house, had not touched second base, and that, as 
he had legally to leave first base to make place 
for Bridwell, and had not touched second base be- 
fore the ball got there, he was forced out, and 
that the run, therefore, did not count. The um- 
pire, O'Day, reserved his decision and suspended 
play. 

The uproar raised is history, but the base-ball 
commission which sat on the case awarded Chi- 
cago the decision, on the rules, and is now gen- 
erally conceded to have done right. The rule is 
plain. It reads as follows: 

Rule 59. One nin shall be scored every time a base- 
runner, after having legally touched the first three bases, 
shall legally touch the home base before three men are 
put out; provided, however, that if he reach home on 

214 



GENERALSHIP OF DEFENSE 

or during a play in which the third man be forced out 
or be put out before reaching first base, a run shall not 
count. A force out can be made only when a player 
legally loses the right to the base he occupies, and is 
thereby obliged to advance as the result of a fair hit 
ball not caught on the fly. 

In the play-off of the resulting tie, Chicago 
won, because, as has been related, Seymour 
didn't play deep enough on *' Matty's'' signal, 
and Tinker drove a ball over his head. 

Now in the rush and roar of the spectacular 
finish of a. vital game, before an immense crowd, 
it took considerable brains and quick thinking 
for Evers to figure out that the game really was 
a tie. From the beginning of the game, players 
have left the field with the winning run crossing 
the plate in the ninth inning. No one really 
blamed Merkle at all. He followed a custom. 
Evers followed the rules, and his quick witted- 
ness saved a pennant. It is interesting, though 
not important, to know that McCormick, now out 
of base-ball, says it was Hofman who ^* called the 
turn," though Evers caught the ball on second 
and did the arguing. 

All ^ inside ball," therefore, is not actual play; 
217 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

much of it is done in quiet hours; some of it, as 
in this case, in strenuous circumstances but after 
play has ceased; all of it must be accomplished 
first, within one's head. 

Another instance of * inside'' defense which 
involved more thinking than doing, is related of 
Connie Mack, who was as great an inside player 
in his time as he is now a base-ball general. In 
this instance, he *'put one over'' on wise old Cap- 
tain Anson, which Anson never forgave him. 
Connie was then with Pittsburgh. The Chicagos 
needed a run to tie, there were two out, the bases 
filled, and Anson at bat. Anson was the premier 
hitter of his time, especially with men on the 
bases, and it looked stormy for Pittsburgh. With 
the call two and tWiO, Mack ran to Gumbert, 
pitching, and told him to ^* waste" a ball, but 
make it close to the plate, and to pitch the next 
ball, which had to be a strike, instantly on the 
signal. Gumbert obeyed, and the curve slid over 
eight inches to one side of the plate. 

**Good strike, that," said Connie Mack, tear- 
ing off his mask and starting for the bench. 

'^Strike? Strike?" cried Anson. ^^You call 
that a strike?" indignantly to the umpire. 

218 



GENERALSHIP OF DEFENSE 

''/ didn't say so,'' imperturbably replied the 
man in blue. '* Three balls." 

Anson grumbled. 

**I should say it wasn't — strike, nothin'!" 

But meanwhile Connie Mack had given Gum- 
bert the signal. Mack was not in position to 
catch, his mask was on the ground, and nothing in 
his attitude told Anson or the umpire he was ex- 
pecting a pitch. The ball cut the plate in two. 
Mack managed to jump in, knock it down, pick 
it up, and touch Anson. Anson never even took 
his bat off his shoulder. 

^^ Three strikes — side out," said the umpire. 

Anson protested loudly for minutes, but the 
canny Scotch fox had outwitted him. It was in- 
side defensive ball of a kind that was very popu- 
lar then. True, it was n't winning by mechanical 
skill, but any play, no matter whether made with 
head, or hands, or ball, or argument, which is 
legal under the rules, and which puts a man out, 
is good, professional base-ball — and this time the 
trick saved a game. 



219 



CHAPTER VIII 
DeiUj — ^Battlefield and Aems 

THE first spring days bring out the balls, the 
gloves and the bats, and every vacant lot is 
covered with hordes of boys of all ages, throw- 
ing, catching, batting and running, either play- 
ing a game or just ** practising" for the fun of it. 
The major league ball player has been training 
in some southern clime for weeks before the boys 
get out, but he has n't begun as boys always do, 
and probably always will, begin their ball season. 
The major league player hasn't been allowed to 
look at a bat for several days after he starts his 
spring training, and he has had a disagreeable 
person called a manager standing over him all 
the time, exhorting him to * ^ go slow — be easy with 
that arm — don't you dare throw a curve, you Jen- 
kins, you — Smith, old boy, do you think you are a 
scow that you try sliding so soon? Jones, if I 
see you throw across the diamond again for a 
week, it will cost you ten dollars — " and so on. 

S20 



DRILL— BATTLEFIELD AND ARMS 

Why?" Because there is a long playing season 
in front of these men, and their muscles must be 
trained and hardened and made used to the strain 
they must stand — gradually. The morning after 
the first day^s training is an excellent time to be 
somewhere else than within the limits of a ball 
park where major leaguers are training, for all 
are sore and stiff and out of temper. But, had they 
been allowed to do as they please and throw as 
hard and as long as they wished, to slide, and bat 
to their heart's content, they would all have been 
in bed instead of on the field. 

Of course, no one, the writer least of all, ex- 
pects any boy to pay any attention to this. 

'* Shucks I" some twelve-year-old reader will 
say (I can hear him now). **It won't hurt any 
to bat a little. Why, batting's half the fun!" 

And off he goes with his bat and swings until 
he is sore the first day ; and then, later on, he won- 
ders why in the world he can't bat this year as he 
did last. 

No one, certainly not the present scribe, would 
prescribe as rigorous a training for the lad who 
plays for fun as for the ball player to whom the 
game is his work in life. Boys have neither the 

221 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

time, the patience, nor the need for such a system. 
But any boy who will spend a little time in getting 
himself in condition to play ball, will play better 
ball than his companion who jumps wildly into 
the furious excitement of the game and * Splays 
his arm off,'* as ball players say, until he is so 
stiff and sore that he has to desist from playing 
for several days. 

If I were a lad going out in the first spring 
days for my first ball practice of the year, I 
wouldn't play a game of hall at all. I would get 
half a dozen of my fellows and form a ring and 
play ten minutes of **Go to if or *' High-low" 
(and ten minutes will be found ample). **Go to 
it" is a very simple *'game" which isn't a game 
at all. It is a lot of fun, a lot of hard work and 
is absolutely guaranteed to make all the unused 
muscles which have grown stringy and soft with 
a winter's disuse, wake up and let you know un- 
mistakably that you possess them. 

Boy number one tosses the ball, carelessly, eas- 
ily, somewhere in the general direction of the lad 
opposite him. The boy tossed to makes a dive 
or a spring, or a jump to get the ball, and the in- 
stant he gets his hands on it, lets it fly in the gen- 

222 



DRILL^BATTLEFIELD AND ARMS 

eral direction of some other boy. The whole 
point is to toss the ball so that some one has to 
jump for it or stoop for it or move for it, and to 
throw or toss it the instant you catch it. It gets 
you all in a gale of laughter — which is good for 
the lungs — and it stretches all the muscles in the 
body without straining them. 

Then, if I were a lad, and really wanted to do 
a little training, to fit myself for all summer's 
ball, I would throw the ball for another ten min- 
utes, just easy throws, ** arching them over," and 
then I would run a while and then rest a while; 
then a little more running and throwing and then 
— stop. There will be other days. 

The point is this — muscles can be made sore to 
a certain degree without losing elasticity — the 
next day they will hurt, but the hurt will disap- 
pear with more practice. But overdo — ^practise 
too hard the first day — and the second day's 
practice doesn't take the soreness out — ^it just 
makes it worse, until every move is a torture. 

Remember that it isn't the size and hardness 
of a muscle which counts — it is the quality. 
Many a good pitcher has arms almost as smooth 
and rounded as a woman's, when hanging in re- 

223 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

pose — but his muscles are long and flexible and 
the ability is in the body to make every single 
muscle contribute its quota of speed to the 
pitched ball. The less attention you pay to the 
mere size of your muscles and the more to what 
can be done with them, the better athletic devel- 
opment you will have in the long run. 

Not until you have exercised in gradually in- 
creasing periods of time for two or three days 
should you take up your bat. Batting is a mat- 
ter of quickness of eye and muscular control. It 
is a sudden, muscle-swelling effort, and to try it 
at first without some little exercise and condition- 
ing of the muscles is to lose that best of all foun- 
dations for a year's good work with the stick, a 
good start. Wait a few days before batting and 
then bat only a short while. Get your **whip'' 
(of course you call your throwing arm your 
**wlhip," don't you?) into working order, and 
your lungs so filled and distended with air that 
you can fly around the diamond at full speed and 
have breath enough left to speak at the end of 
your trip — then go at your bat. 

If you are a pitcher and really have a curve — 
don't pitch it until you have limbered up your 

224 



DRILL— BATTLEFIELD AND ARMS 

arm well, with several days* work. A boy's arm 
is less strong than a man's. It is more limber 
than a man's and gets less stiff, to be sure, but 
on the other hand it hasn't the vitality a man's 
arm has, and should therefore receive, if not as 
concentrated a cuddling and nursing as a major 
league pitcher devotes to his ** salary wing," at 
least a decent and respectful attention! What- 
ever you do, don't start in to play by throwing 
hard and swift balls — no, not even when you are 
in full condition and in the midst of the season. 
Elsewhere in this series of papers mention has 
been made of the '* warming up process" which 
pitchers indulge in before a game — any boy will 
do well to follow that practice, in the game as 
well as in his little attempt at spring training, and 
'*warm up his arm" before he uses it. 

What is universal practice is usually good prac- 
tice. In no branch of athletics does a man try 
to compete '*cold." The runner always jogs 
about a bit to get his blood warm, before running 
a race. Before any tennis match the contestants 
indulge in ten minutes knocking the ball back 
and forth to ''get their hands in." The pole 
vaulter makes two or three low, preliminary leaps 

225 



I 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

before tackling his contest and the crack skater 
never starts in a race without a dash or two to 
**get his skates warm." They call it different 
things, but it all amounts to the same thing — get- 
ting the blood to pump swiftly through the veins, 
and the muscles to limber up. And spring train- 
ing is only a protracted *' warming up" from the 
long winter's rest. 

Professional ball players, all athletes who take 
their sport at all seriously, pay a good deal of at- 
tention to diet and the rules of hygiene. Of 
course any one knows that you can't make muscle 
unless you have muscle building food, and that 
you can't be strong and agile and do your very 
best if the vital force in your body is being 
drained away in other directions. Staying up 
late at night; over study; too little sleep; too 
much sleep; insufficient bathing; all militate 
against athletic prowess. 

Don't play too soon after eating. Many a ten- 
der stomach gets its ill health from this perni- 
cious practice in early athletic days. And some- 
times the results are serious at the time. In the 
city of Washington, D. C, in 1911, one young 
man fell dead from acute indigestion, while play- 

226 



DRILL— BATTLEFIELD AND AEMS 

ing in center field. It was in consequence of too 
great an anxiety to get on the field and enjoy his 
favorite sport, without giving the stomach a 
chance to do its work on the hearty meal just 
eaten. 

Don't play ball if you cannot get up a good 
healthy perspiration in practice. It shows a 
weakened condition of the system, and that the 
body is not in a fit condition to stand the strain 
of muscular effort. Of course, most boys can 
perspire with little effort and these cautions will 
not apply in the vast majority of cases, but they 
do apply at times, and those times are occasions 
when neglect of them may cause trouble. Major 
league players won't play if they cannot ''sweat" 
in practice, and what is good for them, in this 
particular at least, is good for lads. 

By the same token, don't cool off too quickly. 
Don't drink cold water while playing — don't 
come in after pitching a hard inning on a hot day 
and lie on the cool, sweet grass — don't fail to put 
on a sweater to cool off in, if the day is anything 
but stifling hot. Your ball playing machine — 
your body — strong and well made as it is, de- 
mands care just as much as any man-made ma- 

227 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

chine, and will work the better and last the longer 
for such reasonable care as all good athletes take 
pride in giving to their muscles. 

Improper eating is the cause of many a failure 
to do what one knows one's body, properly 
treated, can perform. If you **run to faf and 
eat fattening foods, your exercise will be divided 
between strengthening your muscles and taking 
off the fat. If you eat things which are hard to 
digest, you take just so much vital force away 
from your muscles and make it work on your 
stomach. If you drink or eat stimulating food, 
you will find your **wind'' going back on you. 
Some boys resent a caution to abjure coffee, to- 
bacco or stimulants as ** goody-goody'' talk. But 
entirely apart from any moral question involved, 
the mere practical common sense of training says 
that if you stimulate the heart it will be over- 
worked in muscular exercise. Tobacco, coffee 
and certain foods act as stimulants. Stimulants 
make the heart beat quicker, stronger, faster for 
a time, than it does normally. Then comes the 
reaction when it beats slower and more feebly 
than normally. 

Now *^wind," as boys and athletes generally 
228 



DKILL-BATTLEFIELD AND AEMS 

call it, is nothing but a strong heart trained to 
work. Start running around a track, and do ^ve 
laps. You are tired, blown, breath all gone, pant- 
ing, *^ winded.'' Why? For two reasons — your 
heart cannot pump blood fast enough to keep up 
with the body's demand, under the unusual strain 
suddenly exerted, and your lungs cannot breathe 
deeply enough to supply with air the blood that 
is racing through them. 

Eun again to-morrow. You do six laps. The 
next day seven. In a month you may run one, 
two, three or more miles, easily. Why? The 
heart has been trained to beat fast and strong 
enough, and the lungs have increased in size and 
opened up new cells for air. 

** Second wind," about which boys talk much, 
in making long runs, is but getting used to the 
suffocating feeling of not enough air, and the abil- 
ity of the heart to run itself up to an increased 
pace and maintain that pace while there is de- 
mand for it. 

Anything which stimulates the heart or con- 
tracts the lungs, militates against both wind and 
*' second" wind. Hence the caution against to- 
bacco, coffee and other stimulants if you would 

231 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

bring your body to its fullest capacity to play 
and play well, the great game. 

But training in the early days of spring means 
more than getting the muscles and the body into 
proper condition to stand effort without result- 
ing pain and weakness. It means a good start in 
proper playing methods. The average lad is too 
anxious to taste anew all the pleasures of the 
game — he would bat, and catch, and pitch, and 
run flies, and throw far and hard, and *^pick 'em 
up," and slide, and ^^run 'em out" and *^ knock 
the cover off it" all in the same afternoon. He 
is let loose from the captivity in which winter 
has held him for months and, of course, he wants 
all the fun at once. 

These words of caution, and those of wiser 
heads into the bargain, to the contrary notwith- 
standing, he will probably have it; and that is 
one reason why star boy ball players are just as 
rare as star men ball players. Any intelligent, 
average boy, with an average body and enough 
nerve and courage can become a star boy ball 
player if he only will. But the will to do it must 
be strong enough to withstand the temptation to 
go at it all at once. The lad who spends his first 

232 



DKILL— BATTLEFIELD AND AEMS 

day throwing, and throwing only ^^soft balls/' 
and throwing them just as straight as he can, his 
next day catching flies, and his third at the bat, 
is going to be far more dangerous to the opposi- 
tion in the first game than his neighbor who has 
done a little of everything all at once **just for 
fun" and has had no real practice at anything. 
This, of course, supposing both boys to have the 
same natural ability. 

But it is hard. Major league ball players in 
their training always go at things too hard and 
have to be restrained by their managers — all but 
the wise old players who have trained before and 
who recognize the need for slowness, realizing 
that the ball season is a whole summer long and 
the race is not always to the hare but frequently 
to the tortoise. 

Take this matter of sliding to bases for in- 
stance. Every one wants to slide and slide often 
and hard. It's part of the fun. But to slide 
properly requires practice and much careful 
thought — ^it also requires a good hard skin and 
some muscle in the thigh if bruises are to be es- 
caped. Neither the proper slide nor the hard 
skin nor the muscle on the thigh are to be attained 

233 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

by just flinging one's self at the bag and getting 
there any way, but by careful consistent practice. 
This practice should take place at the beginning 
of the season, and not in the middle of it, when 
careless habits, timidity due to a hurt in sliding 
or a poor method, have been fixed by lack of at- 
tention to the details of the slide and a persist- 
ence in wrong methods merely because ** there 
wasn't any time for practice — ^we had such a 
dandy time playing a game!'' 

What applies to sliding applies to any other 
operation in a ball game. Practice at the indi- 
vidual acts makes perfect in the playing of the 
game which combines them all. In a major 
league *^ training camp," there are hours spent 
in running bases, in getting quick starts, in bat- 
ting, in catching flies, in getting control of the 
ball, in pitching, in chasing bunts, in doing each 
and every act that may occur in a game a dozen, 
a hundred, times over. It is what the spring 
training is for, just as much as it is to get the 
physique of the players in good condition. And 
what is good for the major leaguer is good, in a 
modified way, for the boys' team. Have a man- 
ager or a captain you trust and respect, and 

234 



DRILL— BATTLEFIELD AND ARMS 

agree among yourselves that you will do as he 
says for a week of training — spend that week in 
perfecting yourself in the individual work you 
will be called upon to do in the games you will 
play and in getting your muscles in condition, and 
if then you do not lick the team of equal age, 
weight and size you go against for the first time, 
which has spent its week in **just fooling around 
with the ball,'* why write a letter to the publish- 
ers of this book and tell them just what you think 
of this author! 

That boys who play ball should admire and 
strive to imitate the heroes of the ball field is but 
natural. That they should endeavor to field, bat 
and run bases as they see major league players 
perform these feats, and strive to improve their 
own play by modeling it upon the work of experts, 
is laudable. But that they should try to do every- 
thing a major league player does, merely because 
he is a major league player and without any re- 
gard to the difference between his size and theirs, 
his strength and theirs, his age and theirs, is 
foolish. 

Be his pride in his ability what it may, no boy 
will, on serious sober thought, declare himself as 

235 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

strong, as speedy, as agile as a major league ball 
player. But while almost any boy will freely ad- 
mit this, he will fiercely resent the suggestion 
that he use anything but the regulation equipment 
of a big league ball player or that he play upon 
a smaller field than that which is the standard 
of the great National game. 

Whence it may be believed that the author does 
not expect this part of this chapter to be popular, 
since it is, frankly, urging lads, who have yet to 
reach their full growth and strength, to the use 
of such arms and equipments as shall fit their 
size, reach and muscle. 

Of all arguments as to good health, the preser- 
vation of unstrained muscles, the better physical 
training which will result from suiting the ball, 
bat and diamond to the smaller age, size and 
strength of boys, no capital will be made here. 
One can hear the scornful: 

*^Well, I guess I can throw a dollar-and-a-quar- 
ter ball, and you ought to see me swing that Ty 
Cobb model bat. I made three hits with it yes- 
terday. And I can catch 'em every time stealing 
second!*' 

But it is hoped that the appeal will be more suc- 
236 



DRILL— BATTLEFIELD AND ARMS 

cessful if made in the name of and for the sake 
of the game. Not only will you find it healthy 
and less straining to use halls, gloves, bats and a 
diamond adapted to your own size, hut you can 
play better base-ball. You can play better base- 
ball at once, and you can learn to play a still bet- 
ter game in the future, if you will handle a ball 
of proper size and weight, and not try to learn 
the art of hitting with a bat so heavy that you 
cannot swing it without effort. 

If you will get your father to lay his hand, flat, 
palm up, on a table, and lay your own in the same 
position beside it, and place in each extended 
hand a regulation league base-ball, and then have 
both hands close the fingers around the balls, you 
will be able to see without further argument that 
the ball which the large hand holds easily and 
with a strong grip, is entirely too big for your 
smaller palm. If you aspire to pitching honors, 
you know that the ability to grip the ball very, 
very tightly adds to the sweep of the curve you 
can make the ball take. You can see that the 
small hand cannot grip the large ball as well as 
the large hand. Why not, therefore, use a ball 
which is in proportion to your own size of hand, 

237 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

when it is so obvious that you can, with it, pitch 
better? 

The same thing applies to fielded balls. It can- 
not be shown so graphically on a table with two 
hands, but it should really need little demonstra- 
tion that a small hand and a glove that fits it of- 
fer less surface for catching, fielding or scooping 
up a large ball, than if the ball were proportioned 
to the size of the **cup'' of the hands and glove 
that are to receive it. 

That this condition is recognized generally by 
older men is obvious when consulting a catalogue 
of base-ball goods, where regular base-balls for 
boys are listed in various sizes and weights. 
These balls are not, most emphatically, made for 
''babies," but for boys — ^boys who want to play 
the real game, but to play it in the way best 
suited to their size. 

The same thing applies to the equipment — the 
gloves, the protectors, the masks, the shin guards, 
used by young players. There is hardly a boy 
catcher who will not prefer a mask that fits him 
to one which is too big and the only recommenda- 
tion of which is that it is '*like the one Gibson 
uses." But the same boy will demand a regu- 

238 



DRILL— BATTLEFIELD AND ARMS 

lar, man-sized catcher's glove and handicap his 
catching by a weight too heavy for his arm, when 
he could do twice as well with a glove which fit- 
ted him. 

Perhaps in nothing, except the ball itself, is the 
use of equipment too large for one's size more 
pernicious than in the bat. The ability to bat 
well is simple enough in analysis, hard though it 
is to attain. It is nothing more than the skill 
required to swing the bat at the right time, and 
in the right plane, so that it and the pitched ball 
come together at the right place! Now, the 
heavier the bat, the harder it is to start it from a 
position of rest into one of motion. The longer 
the bat the heavier is the free end to the wrists 
and arms which hold it, and the more likely is it 
to **sag'' a little under the pitch. If you are bat- 
ting a larger proportion of high flies than you 
think properly belong to your batting average, 
try a lighter and a shorter bat and see if the trou- 
ble is not in just this matter of too heavy or too 
long a bat, selected from the dealer's stock be- 
cause it is *nike the one Eddie Collins uses," or 
**a regular Lajoie model." 

As for the diamond itself, it should be as sub- 
239 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

jeet to alteration, according to the size of the 
players, as the equipment. Yet if there is any- 
thing the average boy player is proud of, it is the 
fact that he plays on a ^* regulation field.'* It is 
a false pride, however. He is merely saying, in 
effect, to the fathers of base-ball: 

**You didn't know what you were about when 
you laid off a ball field. Why, I, only twelve or 
fourteen years old, can play perfectly on a regu- 
lation diamond — you ought to have made the dia- 
mond for big Leaguers a lot bigger ! ' ' 

For if you think you can throw perfectly from 
first to third, it is plain that you must think Hal 
Chase could throw half again as far; if you are 
confident of your ability as a catcher to stop steal- 
ing of second by a rifle shot ball from catcher's 
box to second base, you must be certain that 
Street could manage a throw of one hundred and 
sixty feet instead of one hundred and thirty (ap- 
proximately) . 

But whatever your own private beliefs may be, 
the fact remains that you, a lad, cannot throw as 
far, as strongly, or as well, as a man grown, or, 
to put it another way, that if you do throw as 
well, as hard and as strongly as a man grown, 

240 



DEILL— BATTLEFIELD AND ARMS 

you must be greatly straining your arm by the 
throw which he finds none too easy. 

The remedy, of course, lies in a smaller dia- 
mond. No, not a ^^baby diamond,'^ but one con- 
tracted enough to make the game interesting — 
one in which the man on first can't steal second 
nine times out of ten because you have to ^^oop 
the throw'' to second owing to your arm *^ being 
tired" — one in which every tap through the in- 
field isn't a hit, as it all too frequently is when 
half-grown lads try to cover a regulation dia- 
mond, using a regulation ball. 

How much smaller shall you make the dia- 
mond? It depends, of course, on the average size 
of the lads playing. In mixed nines, where the 
ages run from nine to fifteen years, it is hard to 
settle on any one size as being the best. But 
there is a scientific way to determine just what 
the size of the diamond should be, suited to the 
players who will use it, if you want to go to the 
trouble. It is this: Have each member of the 
team circle the bases on a regulation diamond, one 
after the other, just as fast as he can. Take the 
time in seconds that each runner requires to go 
from home to first, second, third and home again. 

241 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

Add all these records up, together and divide by 
the number of players making such records, which 
will give the average base-running time of your 
team. The average time of a grown man's team 
may be considered as 17 seconds. The distance 
around the bases is 360 feet. 

Your calculation, and the above statements, 
give you three sides to an equation, as boys who 
have gone so far in arithmetic know. Let us sup- 
pose that your average time, as a team, about the 
bases is twenty-two seconds. The equation, the 
answer to which will be the size of the diamond 
you should use, is stated thus — 22 seconds is to 
17 seconds as 360 feet is to xxx feet. Multiplying 
360 by 17 gives 6120 and dividing by 22 gives 
278 and a fraction as an answer. If the total 
distance around the bases of the smaller diamond 
is 278 and a fraction feet, one-fourth of that will 
be the distance between bases, and this, 69 and a 
fraction, or say seventy feet between bases, is the 
size of diamond proportionate to the regular dia- 
mond, which should be used by boys whose total 
time of circling bases averages 22 seconds. Sev- 
enty feet between bases makes a first class dia- 
mond for boys of almost any size to play, and the 

242 




JACK COOMBS 

Pitcher of the Philadelphia Athletics (American LeagTie), "World's 

Champions " of 1910 and 1011 



DRILL— BATTLEFIELD AND ARMS 

distance between home and second, not quite 
ninety-nine feet, makes a much more proportion- 
ate throw for boy catchers, than does the *^long 
throw" of 130 feet which so often puzzles a big 
League catcher (to make it swiftly and accu- 
rately), and which is so often beaten by a clever 
base stealer. 

The author is thoroughly well aware that this 
is not a popular line of argument, that boys are 
prone to resent the implication that they are not 
strong enough or big enough to play on a regula- 
tion diamond with a regulation bat, a regulation 
ball, mask, glove, protector and so on. It has not 
been so very, very long since he was a boy him- 
self who played on a regulation diamond and 
scorned the smaller ones, just as you who read 
are perhaps scorning these suggestions ! But he 
wishes to make it thoroughly understood that he 
is not saying some boys are not strong or big or 
quick enough to play with regulation arms and 
equipment on a regulation diamond, but that they 
are not big and strong enough to play as well on 
the regulation diamond, and with the regulation 
equipment, as they can if they will use the tools, 
implements and arms suited to their size and 

245 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

strength and fight their battle of base-ball on a 
field commensurate with both. You play a bet- 
ter game — you have more fun — develop better 
your ability, when playing with a boy's outfit 
than with a man's; and you certainly develop 
your muscles better, and strain them less, under 
such circumstances than when using balls too 
heavy and over distances that are too great. 

Yes, indeed, you develop your body better with 
exercise which is not heavy than with that which 
strains it. Lifting heavy weights never produced 
anything but slow, muscle-bound bodies, often 
strained ones. Pulling a ten pound pulley weight 
slowly for five minutes isn't one-tenth as effect- 
ive as pulling a two pound one briskly for ^ve 
minutes; playing with dumbbells of iron isn't 
as good a way to develop arms as if wooden ones 
are used; running with a weight on one's back 
will not develop speed. And throwing a heavy 
ball a long distance, or pitching it to a catcher so 
far away that the ball must be ^'looped," will 
neither teach you to throw or pitch with speed 
and accuracy nor develop the throwing muscles, 
as will the same exercise with a lighter ball 
thrown through a shorter space. 

246 



DEILL— BATTLEFIELD AND AEMS 

Any boy who doubts this should go, or write, 
to any great athletic trainer — any man who 
makes a business of teaching boys athletics — and 
submit the whole matter to him; and unless the 
author is greatly mistaken the great trainer is 
likely to pronounce this, to you the most unpopu- 
lar chapter in the book, the most valuable within 
its covers! 



247 



CHAPTER IX 
The Rules — League Law 

WHEN two nations go to war they do so be- 
cause friendly agreement is no longer 
possible and arbitration — the settlement of the 
question between them by a third party — is not 
wanted by one of the two. But in spite of the 
fact that war — the conflict between men of one 
race and the men of another race, with every 
deadly weapon science can devise — is a cruel 
thing, it is not conducted, as was once the case, 
without any reference to humanity and solely 
with the idea of doing all the damage possible. 
There are rules for civilized warfare and they 
are strictly observed, even by two countries at 
war with each other. If they didn't observe the 
rules, other countries would step in and settle 
the quarrel, just as if you get into a fight with 
another boy, your companions will let you fight 
it out, if you ^ ^ fight fair ' ' ; but let one of you use 
a stick or a stone or ^^hit below the belf or *^hit 

248 



THE RULES— LEAGUE LAW 

him when he 's down'' and all the rest of the 
crowd will step in and stop the fight. 

Among these rules of civilized warfare are 
those which prevent the use of poisoned missiles 
— which produce not only wounds, but great suf- 
fering — poisoning a water supply, the use of bul- 
lets which flatten in striking, tearing great jagged 
wounds, as well as those governing the ^^flag of 
truce," by which a member of one army can be 
safe in approaching the other if he bear aloft a 
white flag, signifying his desire for a conference ; 
the observance of the neutrality of official Red 
Cross nurses, etc., etc. Recently much agitation 
about air ships and flying machines and the drop- 
ping of bombs has taken place, and there have 
been many propositions made that all nations 
agree not to use air ships in war for other than 
scouting purposes, but so far they have come to 
nothing. 

The point made here is the fact that there are 
rules of warfare, and that it is absolutely impor- 
tant that not only the general commanding but 
his rank and file know these rules, if he and they 
are to fight a winning fight. Let an ignorant sol- 
dier shoot at a man holding a flag of truce and he 

249 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

would set the whole world to frowning upon his 
country. Let a general poison the water supply 
of his enemies and kill a dozen or more of them 
and public opinion would so swing to the injured 
combatant that the war would have to end, then 
and there. Both the general and his men must 
know the rules of so-called ^^ civilized warfare," 
and must obey them. 

So it is in the battle of base-ball. Wise heads 
frame the rules, to cover every possible situation 
in the game, and every question which may come 
up for discussion regarding it. This National 
Base-ball Commission is the supreme court of 
base-ball law, and the rules they agree upon are 
recognized by all the major leagues, all the minor 
leagues, all the **bush leagues," all the college 
and smaller amateur leagues, right down to the 
smallest nine of the smallest boys playing its first 
game. 

But the base-ball rules are many and compli- 
cated — so many, so complicated that there are 
many, very many, major league players who make 
no pretense of knowing them all. Not infre- 
quently you see an excited argument on the ball 
field in which several players are arguing with 

250 



THE RULES— LEAGUE LAW 

the umpire about a rule of wMcli until that mo- 
ment they perhaps had never heard! 

There is every excuse for any player's not 
knowing all the rules — there is no excuse for an 
umpire's not knowing them all. And while it 
would be foolish to advise or expect boys to mem- 
orize the rules, it is not too much to say that all 
boys playing base-ball should read over the rules 
at least twice in a season, and that they should 
get firmly into their heads some of those rules 
about which there seems to be, so often, a ques- 
tion or dispute. 

You may know how to play base-ball, know 
when a man is out and when safe, what all the 
technical terms mean, and just what to do in every 
situation, and still not know the rules. Major 
league players who don't know all the rules must 
nevertheless know how to play the game or they 
wouldn't be major league players. But any boy 
who will read over the rules several times a sea- 
son, will be the better prepared to untangle a 
knotty point, when it comes up, than if the printed 
rules are a sealed book to him. 

The comments of the spectators at a ball game 
are often interesting and frequently amusing, 

251 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

when heard by some one who really knows the 
rules of base-ball. 

One man brings a friend and explains the game 
to him. 

^^See Evers at the plate? He's going to bunt. 
Sacrifice bunt, so that man on first can get to 
second." 

Evers bunts — foul. 

*^Now watch him,'' says the wise man, **he's 
going to bunt it, sure, this time." 

Evers takes a healthy swing and misses the 
ball. 

*^Two strikes. He canH bunt it this time, if he 
does, he 's out," says the wise one, and the base- 
ball players on one side and the trained reporter 
on the other lift each an eyelid. 

^^ Wonderful!" murmurs the one. 

^* Stupendous knowledge!" mutters the other 
and continues to look and listen. 

It is, of course, perfectly true that when a man 
bunts a ball, having two strikes called on him, 
and that bunt goes foul, he is out. But you will 
search the rule book for any rule which reads to 
that effect. What you will find is one sentence 
in rule 47 — **If the attempt to bunt result in a 

252 





r 


^ 


f'<. 


i 


^l 



^^^-Svl 






























THE EULES— LEAGUE LAW 

foul not legally caught, a strike shall be called 
by the umpire. '^ So you see a batter may stand 
quietly and let two strikes be called upon him 
and make but one attempt to bunt, which if it 
goes foul, constitutes a third strike, just as well 
as if he had bunted three fouls for the three 
strikes. 

That, of course, is just one instance. There 
are dozens of them. Perhaps the most common 
lack of knowledge is shown in the matter of er- 
rors and of hits. Of course, whether a certain 
ball should go for a hit, or whether the fielder 
should be charged with an error, is often a mat- 
ter of individual judgment. Very frequently it 
is a matter of individual prejudice. If the 
scorer is very anxious to see the home team win, 
he is apt, quite unconsciously, to say that all their 
advances due to a juggled ball, are earned by hits, 
and to credit the fielders of the side which has 
his sympathy with errors when the opposition 
gets on first or advances on a batted ball, rather 
than admit that his pitcher is being ^' found. *' 

But in spite of its being largely a matter of 
judgment, there are rules to apply, and every 
boy, whether he score a game or plays in it, 

255 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

should read those rules. In section 4 of rule 85, 
you will find that a base hit must be scored when 
the batted ball ^* strikes the ground on or within 
the foul lines and out of reach of the fielders." 
This, of course, includes all balls which are 
plainly out of reach, whether such balls be line 
flies which strike the ground beyond an out- 
fielder, or *^ Texas leaguer'' balls that go over the 
infielders' heads and drop short of the outfield- 
ers, or balls which take jagged bounds from in- 
equality of the ground, or balls which, while trav- 
eling slowly, yet curve out of reach of the fielder. 

Every boy knows and understands a hit of this 
kind. 

But let a ball be batted to the left, near the foul 
line and over the third baseman's head. He runs 
over, jumps up and knocks the ball down, picks 
it up from the ground and throws to first but 
doesn't get the runner. Has the runner made a 
base hit? Or has the third baseman made an er- 
ror? While judgment must be used, there is a 
plainly worded rule about it — *^When a fair hit 
ball is partially or wholly stopped by a fielder in 
motion, but such player cannot recover himself 
in time to field the ball to first before the striker 

256 



THE EULES— LEAGUE LAW 

reaches that base, or to force out another base 
runner a hit shall be scored.'* Note that the rule 
says '^cannof and not ''does not/' It is a 
question of judgment as to whether the fielder 
''cannot" recover in time to make the throw or 
simply "does not." If he "cannot," the ball 
goes as a hit. If it is a plain case of "juggling 
the ball," or if the fielder's foot slips and he falls 
down, it may be a case of "does not," in which 
case the fielder may get an error and the batsman 
not be credited with a hit. The rule covering er- 
rors is lengthy, but that section of it which ap- 
plies here is short and to the point. Section 8 of 
rule 85 says: "An error shall be given in the 
sixth column for each misplay which prolongs the 
time at bat of the batsman or allows a base run- 
ner to make one or more bases when perfect play 
would have insured his being put out." 

A part of section 4 of rule 85 is very important 
to understand in scoring. It reads: "A base hit 
shall be scored — when the ball is hit with such 
force to an infielder or pitcher that he cannot 
handle it in time to put out the batsman or force 
out a base-runner. In case of doubt over this 
class of hits a base hit should be scored and the 

257 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

fielder exempted from the charge of error. (Ital- 
ics are the author's.) Note that *^ cannot'' here 
applies also, but note particularly that *4n case 
of doubt" a base hit -^should be scored." Li 
other words, give the batsman the benefit of the 
doubt, when doubt exists. 

Ask yourself how many kinds of strikes there 
are — that is, when an umpire should call a strike 
on a batsman. Unless you answer **six kinds" 
and can name them, you need to read all of Rule 
49. And right in this rule you will find the an- 
swer to a question which has often puzzled you. 
You know that a ball which is pitched by the 
pitcher and which hits a batsman, if he tries to 
avoid it, entitles him to a base. Yet you have 
seen a batter declared out on strikes when he was 
hit with the last strike. Section 5 of rule 49 
plainly says that a strike is ^^a pitched ball, at 
which the batsman strikes, but misses, and which 
touches any part of his person." 

How many varieties of balks are there for the 
pitcher to commit? Nine. Can you name them? 
What are the rules and how many, regarding for- 
feited games? In how many ways can a bats- 
man be put out? What — ten? Can you name 

258 



THE RULES— LEAGUE LAW 

them? Did you know that there are six differ- 
ent ways of becoming a base-runner I Did you 
know that there are seven different ways in which 
a base-runner may advance a base without being 
even liable to be put out? Would you be sur- 
prised to know that there are sixteen different 
ways in which a base-runner may be retired, or 
retire himself, from play? 

Well, then, you see there is reason for study of 
the rules. All these things belong to the game. 
No, there is nothing to be learned by heart, any 
more than you know how to play base-ball by any 
set words or rote. But the sense of the rules 
ought certainly to be known by all the players — 
certainly by the captain. The captain is the man 
who should talk to the umpire, and who should 
know whether the umpire is deciding correctly 
according to questions of law. For while there 
can be no appeal from an umpire's decisions as 
to a question of fact — that is, if the umpire says 
you are **ouf because some one touched you 
with the ball, and you know he missed you by an 
inch, you are **out,'' no matter what your protest 
— there is always an appeal to be taken from an 
umpire's decision on a question of law. Thus, 

259 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

in a big League, if an umpire misinterprets the 
rules, or fails to know them, and thus makes an 
error, his decision can be appealed to the presi- 
dent of the league. In a boys ' game, where there 
is no league, the umpire's decision on a question 
of law should be appealed to a committee of three 
— the captains of the two nines and a disinter- 
ested third, chosen by the umpire, and these 
three should decide — according to the rules. But 
unless you, as captain, know the rules, you can- 
not expect to catch an ignorant umpire. And be- 
cause there are so many rules, and so many rami- 
fications of each rule — sixteen ways to retire a 
base-runner, for instance — you cannot expect to 
learn them in five minutes. You must read and 
reread them, and study them with patience. For 
base-ball, like everything else, if worth playing 
at all is worth playing well ; and without knowl- 
edge of the rules, this cannot be done. So these 
instances of what the average person doesn't 
know about the rules have been set forth here at 
some length, and simplified rules are included 
in the appendix in the hope that young readers 
will forgive the ^'sermonizing'' that they should 
be carefully studied — for the sake of the benefit 

260 






THE EULES— LEAGUE LAW 

to the individual player and the whole nine that 
will surely come from an earnest following of 
that advice. 

The simplified rules of base-ball, easier to un- 
derstand than the official rules, are reprinted as 
an appendix by the courtesy of the American 
Sports Publishing Co. These simplified rules 
were written by Mr. A. G. Spalding, whose 
name is known to every man and boy who ever 
touched a base-ball or engaged in any kind of 
athletics. A study of them will bring out many 
points concealed in the technical language of the 
rules proper, and they are, therefore, particu- 
larly recommended to the reader's attention. 

In any large body of soldiers, whether it be a 
division, a corps or an army, organization is as 
essential as discipline in the ranks, and is distinct 
from that discipline. A general commands, his 
subordinates transmit his commands, and in the 
end, the individual soldier obeys. That is disci- 
pline. But in addition, there is organization; 
the division of responsibility so that one man and 
those under him looks after the commissary, an- 
other the ammunition, a third the engineering 
features of the campaign, and so on. No indi- 

261 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

vidual soldier expects to disobey his captain on 
the battlefield, for he is well disciplined and 
taught to obey. Neither would he expect to have 
any voice in saying in which division of a sol- 
dier's work he should be placed. 

Professional base-ball players have somewhat 
the same experience to undergo in their submis- 
sion to base-ball **law,'' which is not really legal 
at all, but which, in its code and its administra- 
tion, governs the sport from the professional 
side, absolutely and with no appeal. 

The interest of this side of the game can be to 
boys who play for the love of it, only theoretical, 
since they are not, and cannot be, bound to play 
for the team of which they may be members by 
anything stronger than desire and willingness 
to serve their friends and their own love of the 
game. Yet there is not a boy who plays the 
game, old enough to read, who does n't want to 
look at the scores in the evening paper, and read 
of the doings of the diamond heroes whose prow- 
ess he tries to emulate ; and as he must frequently 
meet with the expressions **He was sold for 
$1,500"; *^ Jones was traded for Moriarty and a 
cash bonus"; *^The Club drafted fiye but was only 

262 



«<lll»)fK: 



"^^k. 



!^— 





TV COBBS QUICKNESS 

He has just buuted and is already well started for first base before 

the catcher has lowered his hands 




fightinCt for it.'" 



THE EULES— LEAGUE LAW 

awarded two'*; ^^He was given his unconditional 
release, '* etc., etc., a few words of explanation of 
what these terms mean and of the code of laws 
or National Agreement on which Organized Pro- 
fessional Base-ball is based, may not be without 
interest even to lads whose nearest connection to 
those paid for playing base-ball is a seat in a ma- 
jor league park. 

The whole foundation of the system of profes- 
sional base-ball as played to-day is what is known 
as the ^^ reserve clause'' in the contract which 
players sign. By this clause they are ^^held in 
reserve" perpetually, to the club they first sign 
with, even if the contract, which may be for a 
stipulated sum of money per annum, expires. 
This ^^ reserve clause" prevents a player who is 
not satisfied with his salary, or the treatment he 
receives, from ^^ jumping" to some other club. 
It is apparent on the face of it that without some 
such saving clause in contracts, the clubs with the 
most money would always have the most powerful 
teams, since they would be able to lure away all 
the remarkably fine players of other clubs. As 
this would take all the interest out of a pennant 
race, and make the sport of base-ball merely a 

265 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

competition between base-ball-elub owners, as to 
which had the longest and strongest purse, and 
would utterly destroy the game as far as popular 
interest goes, the ^^ reserve clause '^ may be con- 
sidered a necessary evil, although players them- 
selves, who have devoted much time to the sub- 
ject, believe that a long-term contract, say of five 
years, would serve the same purpose. 

However that may be, it is the ^'reserve 
clause" on which base-ball in the professional 
leagues is built, and it is the *' reserve clause'' 
which prevents the sale of players without the 
consent of the management. There are seven 
other major league clubs besides Detroit, in the 
American League, and the poorest of them would 
probably be glad to pay twenty thousand dollars 
for the services of the matchless Tyrus Kamond 
Cobb (of Detroit), and some of the more wealthy 
clubs would undoubtedly bid much higher — ^how 
high can never be known until Detroit get& 
through with Cobb, which will never happen while 
he can score from the plate on a scratch hit, as 
he has been known to do, by daring, crazy base 
running — or while he can lead both leagues at the 
bat. 

266 



THE EULBS— LEAGUE LAW 

The case of *^ Jimmy'' Callahan, now managing 
the Chicago White Stockings, is in point. He 
could not agree with his club management and 
stopped playing. He could play nowhere else — 
the ** reserve clause'' forbade, and held him to 
the club by an iron band. Yet Callahan was a 
star performer, and would have brought an enor- 
mous sum in the market, had the club manage- 
ment wished to sell him. They preferred to let 
him stay idle, until either he or they had a change 
of heart, and they could patch up their differ- 
ences. It was likewise with John Kling, once a 
star catcher for the Chicago '^Cubs." Kling had 
a disagreement with the club and retired from 
base-ball. He wanted to play, but wouldn't, un- 
der the terms offered him. So he stopped play- 
ing. He could play nowhere else; the reserve 
clause held him! He is now back in organized 
ball, but figured in a trade in 1911. He found, 
unfortunately for him, that his 'Hay off" had not 
increased his speed and cunning — in fact, that the 
once great catcher was no longer the star he had 
been. In such cases, the reserve clause undoubt- 
edly works a hardship on the players, who feel 
forced to stop playing because they cannot accept 

267 



THE BATTLE OP BASE-BALL 

the terms offered them. And yet, without that 
clause, it is easy to see what a hodge-podge or- 
ganized ball would become. 

^^Why don't they buy some players?" says the 
disgruntled fan, who has just witnessed his pet 
home club pushed from sixth to seventh place in 
the league race. '^They make lots of money — 
why don't they spend some?" 

But it is n't a question of spending money. Li 
the old days, before base-ball was the business it 
is now, clubs sold players for the temporary 
profit of getting a good sum, thinking, perhaps, 
that there were plenty more players to be had. 
But now there are not nearly enough players to 
go round, and managers hang about league meet- 
ings, dangling thousands of dollars in their fin- 
gers, figuratively speaking, ready to spend it for 
a Wagner, a Cobb, a Speaker, a Clarke, a Magee 
— but can find no club willing to part with such a 
star. 

As for the player, he has nothing to say. If 
he is sold, he plays with the club he was sold to. 
If he refuses, that is his privilege, but no other 
club will dare to employ him, since all the base- 
ball leagues, save a very few, small, weak organi- 

268 



THE RULES— LEAGUE LAW 

zations known as outlaw leagues, operate under 
the ironclad agreement, by which a player belongs 
to the club which holds his contract. Of course, 
a player getting, say five thousand dollars a year, 
and bought by a club which then offered him fif- 
teen hundred dollars a year, could not only refuse 
to play under the contract offered him, but could 
appeal to the National Commission, which in such 
a case (unless the player was being disciplined for 
grave misconduct) would probably say that an 
equitable salary adjustment must be made or the 
sale would not be valid. And, of course, the last 
thing the commission or the clubs wish to do is 
to force the retirement of a good player. In this 
way, clubs frequently consult the wishes of their 
players when their service has been long enough 
to entitle them to that consideration, before sell- 
ing or trading them. Sometimes marked consid- 
eration is shown. Cyrus Denton Young, the dean 
of all great pitchers, the *' Grand Old Man" of 
base-ball to-day, was given his unconditional re- 
lease in 1911 by the Cleveland Club, which rea- 
soned that it wouldn't do to sell, trade or dis- 
pose of so prominent and popular a figure as 
*'01d Cy." He then could retire or sign anew, 

269 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

at his pleasure, and at the present writing he 
(playing with Boston) has just shut out a couple 
of teams, so it would seem that he is still far from 
what is popularly known as the ** has-been'' class 
of base-ball stars. 

Players are secured in more ways than by pur- 
chase, however. They may be traded from one 
club to another, in the same league, either for 
one or more players or for a player and a cash 
bonus. They cannot be either traded or sold to 
any club outside the league to which the club own- 
ing them belongs, unless ^^ waivers'' are secured 
from all the other clubs in that league. That is, 
if McGraw wanted to sell Mathewson to some 
team in the American League, he would first have 
to secure the consent or ^* waiver" of the seven 
other clubs in the National League before he 
could do so. 

But a minor league may sell to a league club 
of a class higher than its own, always providing 
some other club has not a ^^ string" on the 
player, a *^ string" being a previous agreement 
to buy, or trade for, this player. Sometimes sev- 
eral clubs will claim the same player, and then the 
question is put up to the National Commission for 

270 



THE EULES— LEAGUE LAW 

settlement, its word being absolutely final and 
without appeal. 

In addition to buying and selling and trading, 
there is what is known as the ^' draft.'' The va- 
rious base-ball clubs have divided themselves 
into leagues, each of which has its own president 
and each of which runs its own pennant race. 
These leagues are graded — that is, they belong 
to different classes — and the value per head of 
the players is fixed in each class. During a cer- 
tain period each year, called the drafting period, 
leagues of one class can draft players, to a cer- 
tain fixed number, from leagues in the class or 
classes below them, and, if awarded the player, 
can secure him by paying the fixed charge for 
players in that class. Of course, if a player in 
a minor league shows promise, several clubs in 
classes above that minor league may want that 
player and put in drafts for him. In such a case, 
the matter is decided by lot, the player being 
awarded to the club which draws him in this way. 

It will occur to any thoughtful lad that if the 
club fixes the salary and then has perpetual right 
to the services of the player, there is no reason 
why the club shouldn't reduce the salary of the 

271 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

player as soon as the initial contract has expired. 
But as a matter of fact the player, mere chattel 
that he is in many ways, has a very potent 
weapon in his hands to fight injustice in the mat- 
ter of salary. The player is the man on whom 
the club depends to win games. The club owner- 
ship cannot afford not to have good players — can- 
not afford not to win games, because the public 
as a rule will not support — that is, will not con- 
tinue to pay to see — poor teams, listless or ill- 
played ball, or teams which loaf. 

Managements are compelled to be fair to play- 
ers in the matter of salaries, otherwise they fear 
the players will not play as well as they can — not 
that it is feared the player will deliberately 
** throw'' a game, but that, his heart not being in 
his work, he will simply ^^fall down." And as a 
general rule, it can be said that although there is 
a supposedly ironclad agreement by which each 
club in a league binds itself not to pay more than 
a certain salary, every club in the league violates 
this agreement and does pay more than the limit 
to its ^^star" players, at its own sweet will and 
pleasure. 

It is seldom that the larger salaries are defi- 
272 



THE RULES— LEAGUE LAW 

nitely known by the public. It is to the interest 
of player, management and club alike that there 
shall be some little mystery about the matter. 
It is generally supposed that Mathewson of the 
New York Giants and Hans Wagner of the Pitts- 
burgh Pirates receive ten thousand dollars — per- 
haps more, — for each playing season. ^^Ty" 
Cobb is reported to get above nine thousand dol- 
lars a year; Ed Walsh of the Chicago American 
League team is supposed to figure in the same 
class; and Walter Johnson of the Washington 
American League team is under a three-year 
contract, calling, so it is said, for more than seven 
thousand dollars a year. From these figures, the 
salaries grade down through the major leagues 
to the minor leagues until they become mere nom- 
inal sums in the *^bush" leagues, which, with 
small attendance and not overly good players can 
afford but little in the matter of salary. 

While a salary of eight or ten thousand dollars 
a year may seem large even to business men, who 
should understand that such prices are not paid 
without there being a reason for them, it must not 
be forgotten that the men who receive these sal- 
aries are picked from thousands, and that they 

275 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

are men who make possible the winning of im- 
mense sums of money for their dub owners. 
Thus, Ty Cobb has been largely responsible for 
his team's winning three pennants in the Ameri- 
can League — Mathewson and Marquard of the 
Giants practically pitched the Giants to victory 
in their league in 1911. Wagner and his terrific 
clouting, as well as his marvelous fielding and 
base running, has largely helped to keep the Pi- 
rates in the race for years. And the Athletics' 
star team could hardly have become world cham- 
pions without their fine pitching staff. 

Moreover, men who receive such salaries, even 
though it be but for six months' work, cannot lie 
around and have a good time the rest of the year. 
They must keep in the finest of physical trim, and 
report in the spring in good form, otherwise their 
value would be lost. Again, men of that type and 
stamp are usually men of brains, whose base- 
ball success is as much a matter of knowledge, 
thought, planning and quick thinking as it is of 
physical ability. 

There are runners in the business as fast as 
Cobb — but never such a base-runner! There are 
batters who hit some pitchers ^^all over the lot," 

276 



THE RULES— LEAGUE LAW 

but very few like Lajoie, Wagner, Jackson, Cobb, 
Speaker, and Magee, who bit tbem all about 
alile. There are plenty of fine pitchers in base- 
ball, but only one Mathewson, one Walsh, one 
Walter Johnson, because these men, and the rest 
of the honor roll of pitchers, pitch with their 
heads as well as with their arms. In 1910 John- 
son held the league — in fact the base-ball — strike- 
out record for the season, and yet had a lower 
percentage than in 1911, when he didn't strike 
out nearly so many men. In 1910 he used his 
arm, his marvelous strength and speed and cun- 
ning of muscle alone — in 1911 he had learned to 
use his head as well — to save his arm, and **let 
'em hit, ' ' when there was no one on the bases and 
to * lighten up" and use his strike-out power 
when in a pinch. 

With it all, men of this stamp must have an 
abundance of what is known as ** nerve" — they 
must pitch or play better when behind than when 
ahead. Let the Giants get a one run lead in the 
eighth inning, and the pitcher falter and fill the 
bases — out he comes and in goes *^Big Six." 
**Big Six" may not even be warm, but he is per- 
fectly collected. He knows what he has to do 

277 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

and he does it. His team mates play perfect 
ball behind him — they know that if it is within 
human nerve and human ability to get out of the 
hole, '^ Matty '* will do it for them. And nine 
times out of ten, ''Matty'' does. 

Instances are numerous — but one will suffice. 
It was a game between New York and the Chi- 
cago ''Cubs." Crandall was pitching and had 
held his enemies safe. New York being four runs 
to the good, when "Big Six," who had kept him- 
self warmed up to relieve Crandall should he 
"wobble," was finally allowed to go to the club 
house and dress. 

"Matty" got out of his clothes, and into a 
shower bath, and was having a leisurely rub 
down, when a hurried word came from McGraw. 
Crandall had "wobbled," two runs had been 
made by the Cubs and there was a man on first. 

"Matty" stripped again and hurried into his 
base-ball clothes. Meanwhile there was a wordy 
argument going on between McGraw and the um- 
pire, the latter wanting the game to go on, and 
McGraw wanting to waste time, to give Matty 
time to get his clothes on. Finally another 
pitcher was sent in the box with instructions to 

278 



THE RULES— LEAGUE LAW 

be as slow as lie could. He finally had to pitch 
and, not being warmed up, the ball was slashed 
across the grass to the outfield and now there 
was but one run needed to tie the score. 

Meanwhile *^ Matty'' was having a desperate 
hunt for his base-ball trousers! Finally they 
were found, and, running half dressed across the 
field, shoes untied, shirt awry, *^ Matty'' stepped 
into the box. Cold as his arm was (cold meaning 
not ^^ warmed up," or not ^ timbered up with ten 
minutes' pitching"), having his whole body 
cooled with the bath, and taken suddenly from the 
^^let down" mental feeling of a day's work done, 
and instantly forced into an important game at 
a critical period, *^ Matty" had to face a situa- 
tion which would have daunted many a fine 
player. But he was perfectly cool, and perfectly 
confident, dropped three twisting, snaky, uncanny, 
crawly **faders" (as he calls his peculiar deliv- 
ery) over the plate, the man at bat took three 
healthy, desperate, muscular swings at the at- 
mosphere, and — New York won the game. 

That is the kind of a man who is worth ten 
thousand dollars a year to his club, not only from 
his magnificent physical ability, muscular strength 

279 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

and skill with his fingers and arm, but from his 
superb control of himself, his skill and his de- 
livery in moments of danger and with the tide 
turning against him. 

And that is why this story has been told here, 
to meet the objection which many a father will 
raise when his son comes to him with the tale of 
the salaries paid that *^he isn't worth it.'' He 
is worth it, this player who stars for his team, 
whether his name be Mathewson or any one of a 
dozen or more great players. Like any other 
profession, brains as well as equipment tell in 
the long run, and it is the brains as well as the 
muscle, now being used in base-ball, which make 
the game one of such great science, and which 
have raised it in the estimation of all thinking 
people to the respectability it now enjoys. 



280 




LAJOIE OF CLEVELAXJ) 



COLLINS OF PHILADELPHIA 



THE AMERICAN LEAGUE'S TWO GREATEST 
SECOND B-ASEMEN 



CHAPTER X 

Umpieing and Fair Play 

WHEN some nation not concerned in a war 
steps in and settles the matter because 
one or both belligerents has broken some of the 
laws of civilized warfare, the self-appointed ** ar- 
bitrator'' is able to effect a settlement because it 
has the power — a large navy, an organized army, 
or the ability to get other nations to help. 

Base-ball teams have to have umpires, and um- 
pires have to have power. And the lad who holds 
sufficiently the confidence of his mates to be se- 
lected as an umpire can well feel proud that his 
character, knowledge of the game and fairness 
have won so signal a recognition. But let the 
lad who umpires for the first time remember that 
although it is fine to have a giant's power, it is 
ill to use it like a giant, to paraphrase a quota- 
tion. While there should be no question of tem- 
pering justice with mercy or equalizing decisions 
and mistakes, the lad who umpires a ball game 

283 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

must remember that he is given power only to 
enforce fair and square decisions, and that it 
should matter not one whit to him what the rest 
of the fellows think of his decisions, or what the 
spectators think of them, so long as he, himself, 
knows them to have been right. 

Does this, too, sound like preaching? It isn't, 
at all. There isn't a big League umpire who 
doesn't mind, in his heart of hearts, the accusa- 
tions of ^^ Bobber! Thief! Bone Head!" hurled at 
him from angry spectators, although he minds an 
ordinarily square-minded player's ill opinion 
much more. Umpires in big leagues are just as 
human as any one else, and they must sometimes 
make mistakes. And that makes them feel badly, 
too, but no worse than a big League player feels 
when he makes an avoidable error, either of play 
or judgment. The player merely makes up his 
mind he will do better next time, and that is what 
the umpire does, too, if he is a good one. It is 
because he has another opportunity that his reso- 
lution is the harder to make. 

Suppose you, as an umpire, call a fourth ball, 
and, just an instant too late, decide it should have 
been a strike. The pitcher is sore, the catcher is 

284 



UMPIRING AND FAIR PLAY 

mad, the infield is ready to bite your head off, 
and only the batter is happy. You are very un- 
happy, indeed, because you want to play fair with 
the teams and you realize you have made a mis- 
take. So the next man at the bat you call out on 
doubtful strikes although he really seemed enti- 
tled to two or three balls. 

That is a fatal mistake. Two wrongs do not 
make a right. And you may have won and lost 
the game with your second and consciously wrong 
decision, whereas your first wrong one, which was 
a genuine error, may have done no harm at all. 
Thus, the third man at the bat, he whom you called 
out on strikes which were not all strikes, might 
have been able to hit a home run on the fourth 
ball pitched — but you never let him get that fourth 
ball. Had the second man at bat — him you gave 
an unearned base on balls — ^been properly called 
out, that home run, which is always a possibility, 
might have won the game. Whereas with the 
third man out, the batter who wrongfully got to 
first base not only had no chance to score, but gave 
an additional chance to put out the man at bat, 
who, if he knocked a grounder, could either be 
retired himself, or be put out by the side being 

285 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

put out, the man on first being retired at second 
on a force play. 

To repeat, therefore— two wrongs don 't make a 
right, and the tendency to ^^be fair'* by giving one 
side an advantage, unearned, because you have 
just handicapped the other side with a decision 
you realize later was wrong, can never be con- 
sidered good umpiring. 

As an umpire, you will find that the game looks 
very different either from behind the rubber, or 
from within the diamond, from the way it looks 
when you are playing. You will also realize that 
the difference between a ball and a strike is one 
of a fraction of an inch sometimes and very dif- 
ficult to determine. Yet you must call either a 
ball or a strike, and make your decision instantly 
and stick to it — otherwise the whole game will be- 
come chaotic and nobody will be satisfied. You 
will find that with a runner on the bases your 
troubles multiply greatly, and you will have the 
opportunity to learn how it feels to try to look 
three ways at once. When umpiring from be- 
hind the pitcher, you must watch him to see that 
he makes no balk ; watch the batter to see that he 
is in his box and not crowding the plate illegally ; 

286 



UMPIRING AND FAIR PLAY 

watch the coachers to see that they do not step 
where they do not belong; watch the base-runner 
to see when he starts to steal or where he is when 
the ball is thrown to first in an endeavor to catch 
him napping; watch, at the same time, a base- 
rnnner on his bag and an outfielder making a 
catch; and first of all, you must watch the ball 
and see where it goes, and whether it crosses the 
plate or not, and, if so, whether it is high or low. 

Many an umpire takes his eye off the ball the 
instant the runner starts to steal second, and 
turns and watches the flying figure. But a single 
umpire cannot afford to do this, and if you will 
watch a big League umpire who is so unfortunate 
as to have to run his game alone (almost invari- 
ably the league games now have two umpires, one 
behind the plate, the other on bases) you will see 
that his head never moves when the man starts 
to steal until the ball has passed the plate, and he 
has called ^^ strike" or '^balP' as the case may be. 
Then, and not till then, does he turn his head to 
see the runner nearing second base and whether 
the ball thrown by the catcher beats him to the 
bag or not. 

The ball or strike decision on the runner's steal 
287 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

is just as important as any other ball or strike 
decision — to fail to get it and have to gness at it 
is bad umpiring. Moreover, there is plenty of 
time to watch for the ball crossing the plate and 
then to turn toward second base, since the run- 
ner cannot possibly be thrown out at second un- 
til the ball gets there! 

You will find that, while new to umpiring, you 
will often make an error of judgment, and look 
for the play at the wrong place. An umpire has 
only two eyes, it is true, but he must use those two 
as if he had a hundred. It does not follow be- 
cause there is a man on first that the play of the 
batted ball will be made at second, you know — you 
must be alert for the fielder's choice and see to it 
that your eyes are where the ball is, for where the 
ball is, there the play is, and where the play is, 
is where your decision is needed. Of course, this 
does not mean that you must look nowhere else. 
An excited or dishonest first baseman might even 
hold the belt of the runner trying to make second, 
when the play is being made at third, if he is sure 
the umpires are both watching third base. But to 
win the game by such tactics is not square, 
straight base-ball — is not base-ball at all. It is 

288 



UMPIEING AND FAIR PLAY 

to be hoped that the lads for whom yon umpire 
don't play that sort of game, but if any unfair 
trick should be used, it is your business to see it, 
even while you are watching the play. It is for 
lack of sufficiently good eyesight, for lack of quick- 
ness of decision and ability to see all that goes on, 
that big League umpires are so hard to get. Hun- 
dreds of ball players, experts at the game in their 
day, try umpiring when forced to leave the play- 
ing field from physical disability; but where a 
hundred try, one succeeds in demonstrating his 
fitness for the place. 

The bad habit of calling a play before it hap- 
pens is one that even some big League umpires 
occasionally indulge in, but it is a very bad habit 
and is the one cause which will make a fair minded 
umpire reverse his decision. For instance, the 
batter sends a ground ball to the short-stop, who 
makes a throw which will obviously beat the run- 
ner to first by several feet. The umpire, sure of 
his judgment of the time of arrival of the runner 
and of the ball, waves his arm over his shoulder 
signifying *^out.*' But at that precise moment 
the first baseman sneezes, the ball bounds from his 
glove, and though he picks it up again imme- 

289 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

diately, the runner has crossed the bag. The um- 
pire, seeing a dropped ball, has to reverse his de- 
cision, and stand with both hands in front of him, 
palms down, indicating ^^safe." The play was 
called before it happened, and it didn't happen 
as it looked as if it was surely going to happen ! 

If this should chance to be the third play of the 
inning, such a decision might well have a marked 
effect in the scoring. Thus, if it was the third 
out and the man really was out, there would be 
no sense in the man on third base trying to score. 
He might see the umpire wave the runner out and 
turn to the players' bench without stepping on 
the plate. The umpire, bound to reverse his de- 
cision the moment he saw the dropped ball, would 
thus virtually trap the man coming in from third, 
who might thus be unable either to get home or 
get back to third. By far the best way is never 
to call a play until it is finished, but then to call 
it instantly, as you see it, and stick to it. 

The lad who umpires must make up his mind 
to two things beforehand : One — that he will have 
in his mind no interest in the game, no care as to 
which team wins, no secret hope for one nine 
above the other — for in no other way can he be a 

290 



UMPIRING AND FAIR PLAY 

just umpire. The other — that he will remember 
that a little ^^ kicking'' from players lets off steam 
and does no harm. Because a pitcher really be- 
lieves a certain delivery to be a strike when you 
know it is a ball, is no reason for you to resent 
his saying so; and because a runner, called out 
in a close play at the plate, indignantly says ^^he 
never even touched me with the ball 'til I was 
over the plate " is no reason for you to think that 
he is insulting you even though you know that 
he, the runner, slid around the plate and not 
over it. 

Jack Sheridan, for long the dean of the Ameri- 
can League Umpires and now Chief of the Um- 
pire Staff of that organization, says: *^Many an 
umpire makes no end of trouble for himself for 
the reason that he does not know how to handle 
players. It does not do to notice everything a 
player says or does. I find it does no harm at 
all to let him do a little fretting and fuming; I 
pretend not to hear it at all or I simply stand 
and smile at the player. In most cases he will 
see that he is acting foolishly and go back to his 
position. It does not pay to bandy words, for 
one will lead to another and the umpire must al- 

291 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

ways get the small end of it, from a home crowd. 
Sometimes if a player seems very hurt and feels 
that he is really getting the worst of it, I tell 
him just how and why I made the decision and 
that seems to have a salutary effect.'' 

The power given umpires in the big Leagues 
should find some substitute in all amateur games, 
whether they be amateur league games, or just 
games **for fun." In the big Leagues an umpire, 
displeased with the conduct of a player, may rule 
him off the field, fine him money or have him sus- 
pended from play for various periods — the presi- 
dent of the league usually inflicting the more se- 
vere penalties on recommendations of his umpires 
after the player has been sent from the field for 
misbehavior. 

In the heat of contest and particularly when 
you are sure the umpire has made a mistake, you 
are very apt to protest indignantly, and even, per- 
haps, to carry that protest to the point of stop- 
ping the game. It isn't really sportsmanlike, 
but boys sometimes let their feeling of injustice 
at a decision run away with them. Then, if the 
umpire has no real control, he must either re- 
verse his decision to the ruination of the game, 

292 



UMPIRING AND FAIR PLAY 

or stick to Ms guns and see a long wrangle fol- 
lowed by hot tempers and a good game spoiled. 

An instance of the kind came to the author's 
notice recently, which is so pat, and so amusing 
in itself, that it cannot well be omitted. As these 
are real amateur teams with real young men as 
players and as the umpire in the case is flitting 
in and out of the room in which this is being 
written, fictitious names had best be given. 

The team from Sandmouth, then, had come 
over, fifteen miles, to play the team of Yarwich- 
port. It was a game for the fun of the thing only, 
no admission being charged. A collection taken 
up during the game to which each spectator con- 
tributed what pleased him, was used entirely to 
defray the expenses of traveling, the balls, the 
diamond, etc. 

The umpire was the superintendent of a large 
summer home estate in Yarwichport — a first 
class umpire is William, too, who sings out his 
decision on the instant and sticks to it! He has 
studied the rules, too, and even though his own 
son pitched for Yarwichport, no one, least of all 
no member of the visiting team, doubted either 
his ability or his honesty. 

293 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

The visiting team had been brought the fif- 
teen miles from Sandmouth in two big automo- 
biles, owned by the man for whom William works 
— a summer resident of Yarwichport, and much 
interested in all sports and in the local amateur 
team. 

In the first half of the ninth, with one out, a 
man on first and the score two to two, the Yar- 
wichport pitcher hit the batter on the hand with 
a pitched ball. The Sandmouth contingent let 
out a yell of delight, and were immensely incensed 
that the umpire refused to allow the struck bats- 
man to take his base, or the man on first to go 
to second. An immediate wrangle ensued, in 
which all players of both sides except the man on 
first, the pitcher and the second baseman of the 
nine in the field, took part. The umpire *^ flocked 
by himself to use his own expression and 
wouldn't even listen to the discussion. Voices 
were getting angry and tempers rising when the 
captain of the Sandmouth nine announced that 
he would stop playing then and there, if that de- 
cision wasn't reversed. 

Whereupon the summer resident who had 
brought the players over from their home fifteen 

294 



r 



UMPIRING AND FAIR PLAY 

miles distant strode into the group and deliv- 
ered himself as follows: ^'I don't know anything 
about the facts in this case — I only saw what you 
all saw, and there seems to be a difference of 
opinion as to the facts. But I do know that you 
boys agreed to come over here and play a game 
of ball, that you agreed heartily on William as 
an umpire and agreed to play under him and 
abide by his decisions. Now if you think he is 
unfair, or partial or ignorant, you don't have to 
play under him — another time. But this time you 
have agreed to play under him, agreed to abide 
by his decisions, and you must abide by your 
word. I agreed to bring you over here in my 
machines and to take you home again when the 
game is ended. You break your word and refuse 
to play this game out, and, so far as I am con- 
cerned, you will walk home." 

The game was finished and Yarwichport won, 
three to two. 

As a matter of fact, the umpire was right, since 
the man at bat had made no effort to avoid the 
ball. But even if he had made every effort to 
avoid the ball, and the umpire hadn't seen it, or 
chose to have the man stay at the plate, that was 

297 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

the umpire's business. Such summary methods 
of compelling obedience to an umpire as were 
used in this case are not always available, but it 
makes a much better game, if both sides post a 
forfeit — say of half a dozen balls, or a few bats, 
or the like, that both will obey the umpire — and 
post those forfeits in the hands of some older 
person, who will see that they are properly re- 
turned or forfeited as the agreement is or is not 
lived up to. 

There is one other way — it is by far the nicer 
way, if you can manage it — and that is, for every 
lad on both teams to agree ** honor bright*' to 
abide by the decisions of the umpire, and make 
it a point of honor not to protest decisions of fact. 
In the old days, the player who ^^ kicked'' at a 
decision was called *^baby" because he could not 
'Hake his medicine." If you will just consider 
for a moment that protesting an umpire's deci- 
sions of fact — whether you are * ' out, " or ' * safe, ' ' 
or whether it was a ''ball" or a "strike," is 
merely an attempt to get something for yourself 
to which you are not entitled, you will readily see 
that such kicking has no rightful place in the 
game. A tennis player who kicks at an umpire's 

298 



UMPIRING AND FAIR PLAY 

decision is considered hardly a gentleman. Eng- 
lishmen would scorn to kick at the decisions of 
the umpire in cricket, and we know the English 
to be the nation which has fathered athletic sports 
for years. 

Learn to hold your tongue and your temper in 
leash. Play with another and a better umpire 
next time, but make it a matter of personal pride 
to uphold this umpire this time, even if it costs 
you the game. 

Modern base-ball, greatest of games, is a busi- 
ness. All amateur play is modeled on the games, 
the rules, the actions of leagues and players in 
organized base-ball. A National Commission de- 
cides what the rules shall be, and officiates, 
through the umpires in the several leagues, at 
all the games, and settles disputes. 

Because base-ball is a professional sport, a 
game played for gain, by players who make the 
playing a business, it has been found necessary 
in leagues to depart from the old ideas of fair 
play as a guide, and conduct all games strictly in 
accord with rules and laws, previously agreed 
upon by players, teams, and leagues. The imme- 
diate result has been to pave the way for a con- 

299 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

test within a contest. Ball teams strive against 
each other for scores, and even against rules and 
umpires, to get, when possible, an advantage 
which the rules do not permit. 

Here is the broad divisional line between the 
professional and the amateur players. Few boys 
expect to be professional players when they grow 
up — every boy wants to be as good a player as 
his favorite model. The lad who has charge of 
second base for his nine worships the name of 
Lajoie of Cleveland, Evers of Chicago, Collins 
of Philadelphia, — the short-stop cannot read 
enough about Hans Wagner the Great, of Pitts- 
burgh — outfielders look upon the swift and daring 
Tyrus Cobb of the Detroit Tigers as the greatest 
man in the game. To the young pitcher, Math- 
ewson. Brown, Plank, Walsh, are names to con- 
jure with — young wearers of the mit wonder at 
the speed and accuracy of second base throws as 
delivered by an Archer, a Gibson, a Bresnahan or 
a Street. 

To imitate men like these in the actual playing 
of the game is a worthy ambition. These play- 
ers are at the top of their profession because 
they are the best — the swiftest, the strongest, the 

300 



UMPIRING AND FAIR PLAY 

most accurate. But no boy can afford to imitate 
the professional ball player in the contest of wits 
which goes on between him and the umpires. It 
is not considered a violation of honor or of eth- 
ics for a base-runner to ^*cut a base" in a pro- 
fessional game, if he can do it without the umpire 
seeing Mm, To do this on purpose in an ama- 
teur game, governed possibly by only one, and 
perhaps anything but an expert, umpire, is, and 
should be, an unpardonable offense on a nine 
playing for love of the game. 

Underlying all American sports is the idea of 
fair play. The boy who cheats at marbles is 
ostracized at school quite as quickly as he who 
*^ cribs" his Latin in the classroom. Fighting 
with fists, temper all gone and only a savage 
desire to **beat him up" left, no healthy Ameri- 
can boy would strike below the belt, or hit his 
opponent when he is down. Two boys cannot set 
upon one in any American school yard. Fair 
play is a trait of character which begins in the 
kindergarten. 

A rule and penalty covering every conceivable 
violation of a rule has been made a part of the 
game. A recent instance in a big League game, 

301 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

with names omitted for obvious reasons, shows 
the reason and the necessity. There were two 
out, a man on third, and two strikes called. The 
batter hit a high foul which went close to the 
grandstand. The catcher, mask on the ground, 
ran for the ball. He was running hard, with his 
face upturned, his eyes on the falling ball. The 
manager of the team with a man at bat rose from 
his chair, caught it by the handle and thrust it 
at the inrunning catcher, jerking it back and sit- 
ting on it again, all in an instant. The catcher, 
seeing something from the corner of his eye, and 
fearing he knew not what, stopped short, the ball 
fell to the ground, and the batsman, of course, 
was not out. The umpire, however, was watch- 
ing the play, saw the interference, and promptly 
called the man at bat and the side, out, on account 
of the interference. 

Here was a case where a bit of foul play was 
covered by the rule. Yet if the umpire had not 
actually seen the interference, no matter if a 
thousand people told him it had occurred, he 
could not have remedied the violation of the rule 
which allows a man to complete a play without 
interference from any one. The offending man- 

302 



UMPIKING AND FAIR PLAY 

ager took a chance that the umpire wouldn't see 
him. Actually, he did his side more harm than 
good, for the catcher might have missed the foul 
anyway. As it was, he, if not the ball, was 
caught, and his side lost its chance to score rep- 
resented by the man on third. 

There is a classic instance of a base-runner, 
who, in the old single-umpire days started to run 
from first base on a ball hit down the right foul 
line. The right fielder, playing deep, could get 
the ball only on the bound. He threw to the 
plate, trying to get a runner. The umpire was 
giving all his attention to this close play. The 
man who started from first, seeing this, cut sec- 
ond base by forty feet, running almost straight 
across the diamond from first to third. Of 
course, the crowd went crazy and there was a 
near-riot, but the umpire, having only one pair 
of eyes and those busy elsewhere, didn't see this 
gross violation of the rules and had to allow the 
runner to stay on third, from which position he 
subsequently scored! 

It was base-ball, under the rules, but it wasn't 
honest playing. With many professional play- 
ers the motto sometimes seems to be *^Win the 

303 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

game if you can by playing fair — but win the 
game ! ' ' 

With the amateur it should be, always, ^*Win 
the game by playing fair — or lose it!*' 

For every new trick to beat the rules, there is 
a new rule and penalty. The player who tries to 
avoid the rules, takes a chance, the penalty for 
getting caught at which is usually an out, or an 
involuntary assist of the opposing side. The 
man who cuts a base may be put out by fielding 
the ball to that base. The man who interferes 
with another player makes it possible for that 
player to make his base without more effort than 
is required to walk — for the umpire gives it to 
him ! The pitcher who tries to catch a base run- 
ner with a false motion of his arm, commits a 
balk, and the player gets his base! 

The professional player who is tricky is not to 
be considered dishonest or accused of unfair play, 
because what he does is a part of the professional 
game, and is so understood. 

But the amateur, admiringly imitating the pro- 
fessional, should stop at that point. To play fair, 
to win only by playing the better game, is a foun- 
dation not only for character, but for success in 

304 



UMPIRING AND FAIR PLAY 

sport in later years, and for the liking and re- 
spect of one's fellow players and fellow men. 

But right here comes a very fine, almost invis- 
ible, line, marking a very delicate distinction, yet 
one which is an actuality and which must be rec- 
ognized. There is a difference between playing 
unfair ball, and playing ball to avoid some of the 
rules. It is almost impossible to put in words 
as an abstraction, yet an example will make it 
clear. The batter hits and runs for first base. 
Short-stop scoops up the ball and throws wild to 
first base. First baseman gets in the runner's 
way, catches the ball, both are thrown to the 
ground, first baseman beats runner to the bag in 
the scramble — batter out. 

Has the first baseman played unfairly in get- 
ting in the runner's way I Certainly not. 

But suppose the ball is thrown straight for the 
baseman. The pitcher runs diagonally across 
the path of the runner, just in front of him. He 
is going to back up the first baseman in case the 
ball is wide. He manages so the runner just 
does n't collide with him, but does have to shorten 
his stride. Is the pitcher unfair in what he has 
done? According to the strict logic of the intent 

305 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

of the rules he is — according to base-ball and the 
way it is played, he is n't. 

Yet if the pitcher had held out his arm and 
touched the runner or held him, the rules would 
call the runner safe for interference. 

Custom makes certain technical violations of 
the rules right — and because there cannot be laws 
to provide for these violations — or perhaps, be- 
cause umpires are but human and can neither see 
all these little violations or look into a player's 
mind and know that he has made an unfair play, 
they have grown to be a part of the game. Base- 
runners in college, amateur and professional 
teams alike, will start from one base for another 
before a fly ball is caught — just a little before, 
but still, before. The umpire cannot watch right 
field and third base at once, nor tell which hap- 
pened first, the ball dropping in the glove or the 
foot leaving the bag. *^ Beating the catch" is 
considered fair, even though against the rules, 
simply and because it is a small technical viola- 
tion which cannot usually be detected. Every 
good pitcher has a good ^^balk" motion — that is, 
he makes runners think he is going to throw to 
base when he is going to pitch. ^^ Balking'' is 

306 



UMPIEING AND FAIR PLAY 

against the rules and a penalty is provided for 
it, yet there is an invisible, intangible, impossi- 
ble-to-name balk which every good pitcher has, 
or tries to get, to *^hold 'em on the base'' or 
^^ catch 'em going back" — and it is part of the 
game. 

Fielders are not supposed to block runners off 
the bases — that is, they are not supposed to de- 
liberately get in the runner's way and keep him 
from touching the bag while they, the fielders, 
catch the ball and touch the runner. That is a 
matter of rule. But what umpire is going to be 
able to tell the difference between an intentional 
block and one made because the fielder could 
stand nowhere else when he caught the ball 
thrown to him? So blocking off the base, and 
more particularly blocking off at the plate, are 
well recognized incidents of the game. 

When a man hits a home run which is n't ''over 
the fence," did you ever notice all the basemen 
standing on their bags? That is to make the 
runner run as far outside the bags as possible — 
and lose time. Did you ever notice the short- 
stop get in the runner 's way and make him swerve 
a little, and then suddenly start for the plate to 

307 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

**back up tEe catcher/' crossing the line in. front 
of the runner, actually making him slow up just 
a little? It is a well known trick and if artistic- 
ally done it is considered fair by players and al- 
lowed by umpires. 

Signal stealing, if done by eyes and wits, as al- 
ready referred to, is certainly a legitimate part 
of the game — but even the professional frowns 
on the semaphore and the electrical attachment 
to help his side get the other side's signals. 

On the other hand, the doctoring of playing 
grounds is certainly unfair, even though to some 
extent the practice is general in professional ball. 
The rules provide absolutely the size, shape and 
condition of the playing field — to raise the pitch- 
er's box to help a tall pitcher get a **down cross 
fire" delivery — to flatten the pitcher's box out 
until it is below the level of the infield to help 
an undersized pitcher deliver ^'sky rockets," to 
bank the foul lines to keep the bunts of a bunting 
team from going foul, to alter the level of the 
bases or the distance between them, is entirely 
and emphatically unfair. 

**How, then, shall we know," you may ask, 
^' which rule violation is ^fair' and which is *un- 

308 



UMPIRING AND FAIR PLAY 

sportsmanlike.' '^ And it is a difficult question 
to answer in one sentence. But try this for a 
guide — ^^ Breaking a non-enforceable rule, when 
the other side can see, understand, and do the 
same'' is not unsportsmanlike. *^ Breaking the 
enforceable rule and daring the penalty, in the 
hope that the umpire won't see it, is not sports- 
manlike. ' ' 

That permits blocking at the plate, crossing in 
front of the runner and sliding to first base, but 
prohibits cutting a base, altering grounds or de- 
liberately interfering by touch or thrown object, 
with the runner. And the distinction, which will 
seem fine drawn to the theorist, is practical and 
will be understood by all boys who play, and 
want to play, fair. 

There is no end to base-ball, and since each 
pennant race brings out new stars, new plays, 
new tricks and plans, so base-ball is always new, 
always to be written about, always to be enjoyed 
afresh, by the spectator who has seen his thou- 
sand games as well as by the lad playing his first 
''real game." 

But no papers on the subject, written with 
309 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

whatever expert knowledge, no books treating of 
the game, written with whatever enthusiasm for 
the green diamond, the white ball, the dusty uni- 
form and the dear sound of ball against bat, can 
make a player of the reader. 

You have found out, long ago, that, given a ball 
hit four feet to the right of the first baseman, 
the runner is out, if you field it, the pitcher covers 
first, and you make a good toss, unless the umpire 
calls him safe! You have had, probably many 
times, sharp lessons that base-ball advice is of 
more interest than real use, since it is the unex- 
pected which happens on the ball-field; the boy 
who ^^ never hits'' may suddenly poke out a home 
run when you least expect it, and the sure double 
play sometimes ends in disaster because the ball 
** would n't go straight." But you must also 
have learned that although base-ball luck is a po- 
tent factor in the game, real skill and brains win 
here, as elsewhere, in the long run, especially if 
aided by good batting! You have learned that 
there is no royal road to stardom on the ball-field 
or on any other field, but that earnest practice 
and much thinking will improve any one's play, 
and time and hard trying will make a good player 

310 



UMPIEING AND FAIR PLAY 

out of almost any one able to run and catcli a 
ball. 

While you who play base-ball now, as boys 
cannot all grow up to be Cobbs, Lajoies, Col- 
linses, Wagners, Everses, Mathewsons, Bakers, 
Walter Johnsons, or Hal Chases, you can remem- 
ber that what once has been done can always be 
done again; that no play on the ball-field is be- 
yond your reach simply because you are not 
known to fame as a ball-player. And, last of all, 
you can remember, and remember well, that the 
greatest of all players has to yield obedience to 
his manager or field captain, as the greatest of 
all soldiers must to his *^ general orders. '^ Of 
all the many fine things in a game of base-ball — 
and they are many — there is none finer, even as 
there is nothing grander in warfare, than the 
self-sacrifice of the individual for the good of the 
many, the playing for the team and for the game 
and for the win, instead of for the wild applause 
for individual acts, and the resulting merely tem- 
porary fame. 

If in any way this book has helped you to win, 
or to make a losing game a close one, if within 

311 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

these pages you have found even a few hints 
which will enable you to organize a better team, 
to work, as a team, more as big League teams 
work together, — in other words, to play a better 
game of base-ball, — the time and effort spent in 
writing it will have been well spent, and the 
writer will be glad of the opportunity he has had 
to talk to the American boy about the grand 
American game. 



312 



HOW I BECAME A Bia-LEAGUE PITCHER 



HOW I BECAME A BIG-LEAGUE PITCHEE 

BY CHEISTY MATHEWSON 

FEW of the boys who read this article will be- 
come big-League pitchers. The majority of 
them probably have no such ambition. But nearly 
all boys play ball, and almost all boy players 
wish, at some time, to be pitchers. 

The first necessity for a pitcher is to have con- 
trol of the ball. That can't be emphasized too 
strongly. A boy may be able to throw all the 
curves imaginable, but if he can't put the ball 
where he wants it, the batters keep walking 
around the bases, and he will never win any ball 
games. Therefore, I would, first of all, advise 
my young readers to practise accuracy, until they 
can place the ball just where they want to send it. 
Let them pitch to another boy, with a barn or a 
fence as a back-stop, and try to put one high, 
over the inside of the plate, the next low over the 
inside, and then high over the outsidej and again 
low over the outside; and keep up this practice 

315 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

patiently until mastery of the control of the ball 
is obtained. A boy will find that even if he can't 
pitch a curve, but has good control, he will be 
able to win many more ball games than if he has 
a lot of benders, but no ability to put the ball 
where he wants it. 

There used to be a pitcher in the American 
League, named ^^AP' Orth, who was called the 
**Curveless Wonder,'' because, it was said, he 
couldn't throw a curve ball. But he had almost 
perfect control, and was able to pitch the ball 
exactly where he thought it would be hardest for 
the batter to hit it. The result was that, for sev- 
eral years, he was one of the best pitchers in the 
American League, with nothing but his control 
to fall back upon. But he studied the weaknesses 
of batters carefully — that is, he was constantly 
on the alert to discover what sort of a ball each 
batter couldn't hit — and then he pitched in this 
'^groove," as it is called in base-ball. 

When I was a boy about eight or nine years 
old, I lived in Factoryville, Pennsylvania, a little 
country town; and I had a cousin, older than I, 
who was always studying the theory of throwing. 
I used to throw flat stones with him, and he 

316 






HOW I BECAME A Bia-LEAGUE PITCHEE 

would show me (I suppose almost every boy 
knows) that if a flat stone is started with the 
flat surface parallel to the ground, it will always 
turn over before it lands. That is, after it loses 
its speed, and the air-cushion fails to support it, 
the stone will turn over and drop down. The 
harder it is thrown, the longer the air sustains 
it, and the farther it will carry before it drops. 

My cousin showed me, also, that, if the hand 
were turned over, and the flat stone started with 
the flat surface at an acute angle to the earth, 
instead of parallel to it, the stone, instead of 
dropping, would curve horizontally. I began to 
practise this throw, and to make all sorts of ex- 
periments with stones. 

I got to be a great stone thrower, and this 
practice increased my throwing power, and taught 
me something about curves. When I was nine 
years old, I could throw a stone farther than any 
of the boys who were my chums. Then I used to 
go out in the woods and throw at squirrels and 
blackbirds, and even sparrows; and many a bag 
full of game I got with stones. But, when aim- 
ing at game, I always used round stones, as these 
can be thrown more accurately. 

317 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

All this time I was practising with stones, 
mainly for amusement ; I had n 't played any base- 
ball, except ^^one old cat," with boys of my own 
age. As a matter of fact I didn't think much 
about base-ball. Gradually, however, I became 
interested in it, and before long, I was allowed to 
stand behind the catcher when the Factoryville 
team was playing, and ^^shag'^ foul balls, or carry 
the bats or the water. For I was born with the 
base-ball instinct, and a *' mascot,'' or bat-boy, is 
the role in which many a ball-player has made his 
start. 

This Factoryville nine was composed of grown 
men, and it was not uncommon for small town 
teams to wear whiskers in those days. Many of 
the players, too, were really fat men. But, boy- 
like, I felt very important in being ^* connected 
with" this pretentious-looking club. My official 
name was ** second catcher," which entitled me to 
no place in the batting order, but gave me a 
chance at all foul balls and other misplaced hits 
that none of the regular nine could reach. If I 
happened to catch a wild foul ball, I would often 
hear the spectators say, *^That 's a pretty good 
kid. He '11 make a ball-player some day." But 

318 



HOW I BECAME A BIG-LEAGUE PITCHER 

if I missed one, then it would be: **That kid 's 
pretty bad. He '11 never be a ball-player!" 

So, at the age of ten, I became a known factor 
in the base-ball circles of Factoryville, and might 
be said to have started on my career. 

My next step was learning to throw a curve 
with a base-ball, and one of the pitchers on the 
town team undertook to show me how this was 
done. He taught me to hold the ball for an out- 
curve, and then to snap my wrist to attain the 
desired result. After considerable practice, I 
managed to curve the ball, but I never knew 
where it was going. I used to get another young- 
ster, a little yOkonger than I, up against a barn, 
with a big glove, and pitch to him for hours. At 
last, I attained fair control over this curve, and 
then I began practising what is known in the 
big Leagues as the ^^fast ball,'' but what most 
boys call an ^4n-curve." 

Every boy knows that, if he grips a ball tightly 
and then throws it, with all his speed, off the ends 
of his fingers, the ball will curve in toward a 
right-handed batter slightly. This curve is easy 
to accomplish, as it is merely a matter of speed 
and letting the baU slide straight off the ends of 

319 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

the fingers, — the most natural way to throw. It 
does not require any snap of the wrist, but the 
bend of the curve is naturally slight, and that is 
the reason most big Leaguers call it a fast ball, 
and do not recognize it as a curve. At the age of 
twelve, having no designs on the big League, I 
called it the * ' in-curve, ' * and reckoned, with some 
pride, that I could throw two curves, — the **ouf 
and the ^4n.'^ 

I first began playing ball on a team when I was 
twelve, but most of the other boys were older 
than I, and, as pitcher was considered to be the 
most important position, one of the older boys 
always took the job without even giving me a 
tryout. In fact, they thought that I was alto- 
gether too good a pitcher for my age, because I 
had considerable speed, and it was natural that 
several of the older boys didn't want to see the 
^^kid'' get along too fast. So they put me in 
right field, on the theory that ^'anybody can play 
right field.'' 

I wasn't much of a ball-player, outside of be- 
ing a pitcher, and it must be confessed that I 
never showed up brilliantly with that boy team. 
I could catch flies only fairly well, could throw 

320 



HOW I BECAME A BIG-LEAGUEi PITCHEE 

hard and straight, and was pretty good at chasing 
the balls that got away from me; but I wasn't 
a good hitter, and probably for just one reason. 

I was what is known as a ^^cross-handed'' bat- 
ter, — and the experts will all tell you that this is 
a cardinal sin in a batsman. It means that I 
stood up to the plate as a right-handed batter 
does, but put my left hand on top of my right, 
which greatly reduces the chances of hitting the 
ball when a man swings at it. All boys should 
be careful to avoid this cross-handed method of 
holding the bat. It is a great weakness. No one 
that I played with knew enough to tell me to 
turn around and bat left-handed, or that I was 
probably, by nature, a left-handed hitter. I would 
advise any boys who have this fault to try hitting 
left-handed, and if this does not prove successful, 
to practise keeping the right hand on top until 
they are able to swing that way. No one will 
ever be a good ball-player who hits in the clumsy, 
cross-handed style. 

I believe I got the habit from hoeing, and chop- 
ping wood, and performing some of the other 
chores that a country boy is called upon to do. 
At all events, it ''came natural," as the saying is, 

321 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

for me to hold my left hand on top of my right 
when doing any work of that kind. The result 
was, that I batted as if I were hoeing potatoes, 
and seldom obtained a hit. Once in a while, I 
would connect with the ball, in my awkward, 
cross-handed style, and it would always be a long 
wallop, because I was a big, husky, country boy ; 
but more often I ignominiously struck out. So it 
will be seen that my real base-ball start was not 
very auspicious. 

But, even then, I would rather play base-ball 
than eat, and that is the spirit all boys need who 
expect to be good players. When I was fourteen 
years old, the pitcher on the Faotoryville team 
was taken ill one day, just before a game with a 
nine from a town ten miles away, and the contest 
was regarded as of great importance in both vil- 
lages. Our second pitcher was away on a visit, 
and so Facto ryville was *^up against if for a 
twirler. You must remember that all the players 
on this team were grown men — several of them, 
as I have said, with whiskers on their faces, and 
roly-poly bodies — but I had always looked up to 
them as idols. When the team could find no 
pitcher, some one remarked to the captain : * * That 

322 



I 



HOW I BECAME A BIG-LEAGUE PITCHEE 

Mathewson kid can pitch pretty well." But the 
backers of the team and the other players were 
skeptical, and, like men who come from Missouri, 
*^ wanted to be shown." So they told me to come 
down on the main street in Factoryville the next 
morning, which was Saturday, the day of the 
game — and take a ** try out." 

'*We want to see what you Ve got," said the 
captain to me. 

Most of the base-ball population of the town 
gathered to see me get my tryout, and I pitched 
for two hours, while the critics stood around and 
watched me closely, to discover what I could do. 
They sent their best batters up to face the curves 
I was throwing, and I was ** putting everything 
that I had on the ball." After a full hour's dress 
rehearsal, and when, at last, I *^ fanned" out the 
captain of the team, he came up, slapped me on 
the back, and said : 

**You 'U do. We want you to pitch this after- 
noon." 

That, I am sure, was the very proudest day of 
my life. We had to drive ten miles to the oppo- 
nent's town, and all the other boys watched me 
leave with the men. And you can imagine my 

323 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

pride while I watched them, as they stood on one 
foot and then the other, nudging one another and 
saying, ^^ ^Husk' is going to play with the men!'' 
They called me ^^Husk" in those days. 

It was a big jump upward for me, and I would 
hardly look at the other youngsters as I climbed 
into the carriage with the captain. If the full 
truth were told, however, I felt almost **all in'' 
after the hard session I had been through in the 
morning. 

I can remember the score of that game yet, 
probably because it was such an important event 
in my life. Our team gained the victory by the 
count of 19 to 17 — and largely by a bit of good 
luck that befell me. With my hands awkwardly 
crossed on the bat, as usual, I just happened to 
swing where the ball was coming once, when the 
bases were full, and I knocked it over the left- 
fielder 's head. That lucky hit won the game ; and 
that was really my start in base-ball. 

This happened toward the end of the summer 
season; and in the fall I went to the Keystone 
Academy, after having completed the public- 
school course, there being no high school in Fac- 
toryville at that time. 

324 



HOW I BECAME A BIG-LEAGUE PITCHER 

I played on the Keystone team during my first 
year at the academy, but I was still young, and 
they thought that it was up to some older boy to 
pitch, so I covered second base. I was playing 
ball with boys sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen 
years old at this time, and I was only fourteen. 

The next year, however, I was captain of the 
team, and pitched (the natural result of being 
elected captain, as any of my readers know who 
may have led base-ball clubs!). While I was the 
captain of this team, I hit upon a brilliant idea, 
which really wasn't original, but which the other 
boys believed to be, and so it amounted to the 
same thing. When we were playing a weak team, 
I put some one else into the box to pitch, and 
covered second base myself, to *^ strengthen the 
infield." We had a couple of boys on the team 
who — like certain twirlers in every league — could 
pitch, but couldn't bat or play any other position. 
I caught this idea from reading an article in a 
newspaper about McGraw and the Baltimore 
** Orioles.'' I worshiped him in those days, little 
thinking that I should ever know him ; and it was 
beyond my fondest dreams that I should ever play 
ball for him. 

325 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

I was still batting cross-handed on the Key- 
stone team; but, in pitching, I had good control 
over my ont-curve which was effective against 
the other boys. During the vacation of that sum- 
mer, I pitched for the Factoryville team, until it 
disbanded in August, which left me no place to 
play ball, and, remember, at that time I still would 
rather play ball than eat, and, big, growing boy 
that I was, I was decidedly fond of eating! 

But one fine day, the captain of a team belong- 
ing to a town about ^Ye miles away came to me 
and asked if I would pitch for his nine. 

'^We '11 give you a dollar a game!'' he said in 
conclusion. 

^ ^ What ! How much T ' I asked, in amazement, 
because it was such fun for me to play ball, then, 
that the idea of being paid for it struck me as 
** finding money." 

**A dollar a game," he repeated; **but you '11 
have to walk over, or catch a ride on some 
wagon." 

There was no trolley route connecting the two 
villages then. I told him he need n't mind how I 
got there, but that I would certainly come. 

So, for a time, I went regularly over to the 
326 



HOW I BECAME A BIG-LEAGUE PITCHER 

other town — Factory ville 's old rival — and pitched 
every Saturday; and often I had to walk both 
ways. But they always gave me my dollar, which 
was a satisfactory consolation and a good anti- 
dote for foot-weariness. By this time, I was far 
ahead of boys of my own age, in pitching, and 
was * * showing them how to pitch, ' ' and rather re- 
garding them as my inferiors, as any boy will, 
after he has played with men. 

In 1898, 1 was graduated from Keystone Acad- 
emy, and as I had played foot-ball there, and was 
a big, husky, country kid, I was regarded as a 
desirable student by several colleges, and urged 
by friends at the University of Pennsylvania and 
by others at Lafayette College to enter one of 
those institutions of learning. But I finally de- 
cided to go to Bucknell. 

During that summer, I happened to be in 
Scranton, Pennsylvania, soon after school closed. 
It looked a big city to me then, and the buildings 
seemed to be very high. As I was only there for 
the day, I made up my mind that I would make 
sure of seeing the Y. M. C. A. team play ball, 
which it did every Saturday. At the hour ap- 
pointed for the game, I was sitting in the grand 

327 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

stand munching peanuts, when it was suddenly 
discovered that the Y. M. C. A. pitcher was miss- 
ing, and they began to look around for some one 
to twirl. 

One of their players, it seems, had seen me 
pitch in Factoryville, and, having recognized me 
in the stand, he went up to the captain of the 
team, and said : ^ * There 's a kid up there who can 
pitch.'' 

*^ Where 's he from?'' asked the captain. 

** Factoryville," replied my friend. 

**I don't think he '11 do," said the captain. 
''Those small-town pitchers don't make good 
when they stack up against real ball teams. But 
I '11 remember him, and I may have to try him if 
the regular pitcher does n't show up." 

The regular pitcher didn't '^show up," and the 
result was that the two players came over to me, 
some ten minutes later, where I was still munch- 
ing peanuts in eager anticipation of the game, 
and began a conversation in this wise : 

^'Can you pitch?" the captain asked me. 

''A little," I replied. 

'^Want to work for us this afternoon?" 

I was startled. Then, ^'Sure I do!" I ex- 
328 



HOW I BECAME A BIG-LEAGUE PITCHEE 

claimed, and promptly climbed down over the front 
of the stand, leaving quite three cents' worth of 
peanuts on the seat, which was no compliment to 
my natural country thrift, and indicated that I 
was excited. They handed me a uniform, very 
much too big for me, the one that the regular 
pitcher usually wore, and as I was putting it on 
in the dressing-room, I began to wonder if the 
job would be as much too large. When I came 
out and the crowd got a look at me, everybody be- 
gan to ask who the big country boy was with the 
misfit uniform. 

But I ^^had something'' that day, and struck 
out fifteen men. 

^^You 're a pitcher!" said the captain to me 
after the game, and he ordered a uniform made 
to fit me. I was seventeen at that time, and was 
still playing with teams whose members were all 
much older than I. And that was the second op- 
portunity to pitch that came to me through a 
''break in the luck," as ball-players say. 

At midsummer of that year, I went to Hones- 
dale, Pennsylvania, where I was given twenty 
dollars a month and my board, to pitch for the 
team there. This seemed to me then a princely 

329 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

salary, and I began to speak of ^*J. P. Morgan 
and me.'' 

In 1898, 1 matriculated at Bucknell, and played 
foot-ball there. This is a college of less than 
two hundred male students, but the class of men 
was generally high. The next summer I went 
back to Honesdale, after having played on the 
Bucknell base-ball team. And, in the middle of 
the season, I was offered ninety dollars a month 
to pitch in the New England League, a salary 
which turned out to be only on paper, for the 
Taunton club disbanded before I was ever 
paid, and I received only an occasional five or 
ten dollars, which promptly went to the land- 
lady. 

Honesdale proved to be an important mile-post 
in my base-ball journey. Two things I learned 
during my stay there, and both have been of great 
value to me. First, and most momentous, I dis- 
covered the rudiments of ^'the fade-away"; and, 
second, I stopped batting cross-handed. This 
correction of my hitting style was the result of 
ridicule. I was very large by this time — almost 
as big as I am now — and when I came up to the 
bat, with the wrong hand on top, and swung at the 

330 




MATHEWSON PITCHING A FAST ONE 
Copyright by Paul Thompson 



HOW I BECAME A BIG-LEAGUE PITCHER 

ball, I looked awkward. The players on the 
other teams, and the spectators began to laugh at 
me and *^guy'' me. **Look at that big boob try- 
ing to hit the ball ! ' ' they woidd shont as I missed 
one. 

I made up my mind to change my style, and I 
started to try to hit with the right hand on top, 
standing up to the plate right-handed. It was 
very hard for me at first, and for a long time I 
couldn't hit nearly as well that way as I could 
with my hands crossed; but I stuck to the new 
style, knowing that it would be a big improve- 
ment in the end. I had batted the other way so 
long that it was hard for me to correct it. That 
is the reason I advise all boys with a tendency to 
hold a bat with the wrong hand on top to change 
immediately, because the longer they keep on hit- 
ting in that way, the harder it will be for them to 
adopt a new style. No one will ever be a hitter, 
swinging in this awkward manner, because the 
hands cannot guide the bat accurately. Since I 
changed my batting form, I have developed into 
a fair-hitting pitcher. 

In Honesdale, there was a left-handed pitcher 
named Williams who could throw an out-curve to 

333 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

a right-handed batter. Now the natural curve 
for a left-handed pitcher is the in-cnrve to a 
right-handed batter, and Williams simply exhib- 
ited this curve as a sort of ^^freak'' delivery, in 
practice, over which he had no control. He 
showed the ball to me, and told me how he threw 
it, and I began to wonder why a right-handed 
pitcher could n 't master this delivery, thus getting 
an in-curve to a right-handed batter on a slow 
ball, which surely seemed desirable. Williams 
pitched this ball with the same motion that he 
used in throwing his in-curve, but turned his 
hand over and snapped his wrist as he let the 
ball go. He could never tell where it was going 
to break, and therefore it was of no use to him in 
a game. He onced played a few games in one of 
the big Leagues, but lasted only a short time. 
He didn't have enough control over this freak 
ball to make it deceptive, and, as far as the rest 
of his curves were concerned, he was only a 
mediocre pitcher. 

But it was here that I learned the rudiments of 
the fade-away, and I began to practise them with 
great diligence, recognizing the value of the 
curve. I also started to pitch drop balls while I 

334 



HOW I BECAME A BIG-LEAGUE PITCHEE 

was in Honesdale, and mixed these up with my 
fast one and the ^ ^ old roundhouse curve. ' ' I only 
used the drop when the situation was serious, as 
that was my very best, and a surprise for all the 
batters. Few pitchers in that set, indeed, had a 
drop ball. 

The part of the summer with the Taunton team 
apparently did me little good, beyond teaching 
me the style of base-ball played in the New Eng- 
land League, and proving to me that there is 
sometimes a great difference between the salary 
named in a contract and that received. As a mat- 
ter of fact, however, that portion of a season 
spent in the New England League was going to 
have a great influence on my future, although I 
could not foresee it at the time. 

I returned to Bucknell in the fall, where I 
played full-back on the foot-ball team ; and, oddly 
enough, I was much better known as a foot-ball 
player at this time than as an exponent of base- 
ball. Probably this was because I developed some 
ability as a drop-kicker, and, at college, foot-ball 
was considered decidedly the more important 
sport. Moreover, I received poor support on the 
college base-ball team; and no pitcher can win 

335 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

games when his men don't field well behind him, 
and thus lose the game for him, or when they re- 
fuse to bat in any runs. 

In the fall of 1899, the Bucknell foot-ball team 
went down to Philadelphia to play the University 
of Pennsylvania eleven, and this proved to be one 
of the most important trips that I ever took. 
While our players were waiting around the hotel 
in the morning, a man named John Smith, known 
in base-ball circles as '^Phenom John'' Smith, 
came around to see me. He was an old pitcher, 
and had picked up the name of '* Phenomenal 
(shortened to *^Phenom") John" in his palmy 
days in the box. He had been the manager of 
the Portland club in the New England League dur- 
ing the previous season, and had seen me pitch 
with the Taunton nine. 

^^Mathewson," he said to me, **I 'm going to 
Norfolk in the Virginia League, to manage the 
club next season, and I '11 give you a steady job 
at eighty dollars a month. I know that your con- 
tract called for ninety dollars last season, but you 
will surely get this money, as the club has sub- 
stantial backing. ' ^ 

I signed the contract then and there. The col- 
336 



HOW I BECAME A BIG-LEAGUE PITCHEE 

leges weren't as strict about their men playing 
summer ball at that time. Now I would advise a 
boy who has exceptional ability as a ball-player, 
to sign no contracts, and to take no money for 
playing, until he has finished college. Then, if 
he cares to go into professional base-ball, all 
right. 

<^I >ni going out to see you play foot-ball this 
afternoon," said Smith, as he put the contract in 
his pocket. 

I was lucky that day, and kicked two field goals 
against Pennsylvania, which was considered to be 
a great showing for a teani from a small college, 
in an early season, game, regarded almost as a 
practice contest. Field goals counted more then 
— five points each — and there were few men in the 
country who were good drop-kickers. Hudson, 
the Carlisle Indian, was about the only other of 
my time. Those two field goals helped to temper 
our defeat, and we lost by about 20 to 10, 1 think. 
When I got back to the hotel, ^^Phenom John" 
was there again. 

^^You played a great game this afternoon," he 
said to me, ^ ^ and, because I liked the way in which 
you kicked those two field goals, I 'm going to 

337 



THE BATTLEi OF BASE-BALL 

make your salary ninety dollars instead of eighty 
dollars." 

He took the contract, already signed, out of his 
pocket, and raised my pay ten dollars a month 
before I had ever pitched a ball for him! That 
contract is framed in Norfolk now, or rather it 
was when I last visited the city with ^Hhe Giants'' 
on a spring-training trip. The old figures re- 
main, with the erasure of the eighty and the cor- 
rection of ninety just as ^^Phenom John" made 
them with his fountain-pen. 

As you will easily believe, I went back to Buck- 
nell very much pleased with myself, with two field 
goals to my credit in foot-ball, and in my pocket 
a contract to play base-ball for ninety dollars a 
month. 

The rest of the story, until I got into the big 
League, is brief. 

I went to Norfolk the next summer, and won 
twenty-one games, out of twenty-three, for the 
team. And on a certain day in the midsummer of 
1900, ^^Phenom John" Smith came up to me, 
smiling in the friendliest way. 

** Matty," he began, *^I 've never regretted 
changing that contract after it was signed. You 

338 



HOW I BECAME A BIG-LEAGUE PITCHEE 

have played good ball for me, and now I have a 
chance to sell you to either the New York Na- 
tional League club or the Philadelphia club. 
Which team would you rather be with?" 

This came to me as a great surprise, the oppor- 
tunity to ^^ break into the big League'' — the dream 
of my life. Only one year before, I had stood 
outside the players' gate at the Polo Grounds, on 
my way to Taunton, and had lingered to watch 
Amos Eusie, the great pitcher of the Giants, 
make his exit, so that I could see what he looked 
like in his street clothes, and also contribute a 
little hero-worship in the way of cheers. Now I 
was going to be member of a big-League club 
myself ! 

^'I '11 let you know in a couple of days," I told 
Smith, in reply to his question about my choice 
of the two clubs. 

Then I began to study the list of pitchers with 
each team. The Giants were a vastly different 
organization then from that of to-day, and were 
usually found near the bottom of the list toward 
the end of the season. But they were in need of 
pitchers, and so I decided that, if I went with 
New York, I, a youngster, would have a better 

339 



THE BATTLEi OF BASE-BALL 

chance to pitch regularly. They hadn't much 
to lose by making a thorough trial of me, and 
they might give me an opportunity to work, was 
the way I reasoned it out. 

^^I 'd like to go to New York," I told Smith; 
and, needless to say, I have never regretted my 
decision. 

That is how I became a big League pitcher, 
in the middle of the summer of 1900, at the age 
of nineteen years. George Davis was the man- 
ager of the New York club at the time, and the 
first thing he did when I reported for duty was to 
summon me for morning practice. 

*^Now," he said, ^^I 'm going to order all our 
fellows to go up to the bat, and I want you to 
throw everything you Ve got.'^ 

He started off himself, and I was nervous 
enough, facing the manager of a big-League 
team for my tryout. I shot over my fast one 
first, and I had a lot of speed in those days. 

'^That 's a pretty good fast ball you 've got, 
there, ' ' declared Davis. ' ' Now let 's have a look 
at your curve." 

I threw him the ''old roundhouse" out-curve, 
my pride and joy which, as the newspapers said, 

340 



HOW I BECAME A BIG-LEAGUE PITCHER 

had been *^ standing them on their heads" in the 
minor league. He stepped up into it, and drove 
the ball over the head of the man playing center 
field and beyond the old ropes. 

So was an idol shattered, and my favorite 
curve wrecked ! 

**No,'' he said, *'that *old roundhouse' curve 
ain't any good in this company. You can see 
that start to break, all the way from the pitcher's 
box. A man with paralysis in both arms could 
get himself set in time to hit that one. Have n't 
you got a drop ball?" 

'^Yes," I answered; ^^but I don't use it much." 

' ' Well, let 's have a look at it. " 

I threw him my drop ball, and he said that it 
was a pretty fair curve. 

^^Now that 's what we call a curve ball in the 
big League," declared Davis. ^^ As for that other 
big one you just threw me, — forget it ! Got any- 
thing else?" 

^^I 've a sort of a freak ball that I never use in 
a game," I replied, brimful of ambition. 

'^Well, let 's see it." 

Then I threw him my fade-away, , although it 
hadn't been named at the time. He missed it by 

341 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

more than a foot (I was lucky enough to get it 
over the plate!). I shall never forget how 
Davis 's eyes bulged ! 

^^What 's that ball? '' he asked. 

^^That 's one I picked up, but never use," I an- 
swered. * ^ It 's a kind of a freak ball. ' ' 

* * Can you control it T ' 

*^Not very well," 

^ ' Try it again ! " he ordered. I did, and got it 
over the plate once more. He missed the 
ball. 

^^That 's a good one! That 's all right!" he 
declared enthusiastically. ^^It 's a slow in-curve 
to a right-handed batter. A change of pace with 
a curve ball. A regular fall-away or fade-away. 
That 's a good ball!" 

And there, in morning practice, at the Polo 
Grounds in 1900, the ^^fade-away" was born, and 
christened by George Davis. He called some left- 
handers to bat against it. Nearly all of them 
missed it, and were loud in their praise of the 
ball. 

^^Now," said Davis, in the club-house after the 
practice, ^^I 'm not going to pitch you much, and 
I want you to practise on that fade-away ball of 

342 



HOW I BECAME A BIG-LEAGUE PITCHEE 

yours, and get so that you can control it. It 's 
going to be a valuable curve/' 

So every morning I was out at the grounds, 
trying my fade-away, and always aiming to get 
control of it — absolute, sure precision. I worked 
hours at a time on it, and then Davis would try 
me out against batters to see how it was coming 
along. He didn't give me a chance in a regular 
game until toward the end of the season, when he 
put me into a contest that had already been lost 
by some other pitcher who had been taken out. 

But, the next spring, just before the opening 
game of the season of 1901, Davis came to me and 
said : 

^^ Matty, I want you to pitch to-morrow." 

This command was a big and sudden surprise 
to me. I went home and to bed about nine o 'clock, 
so as to be feeling primed for the important con- 
test. And the next day it rained ! Again I went 
to bed early, and once more it rained ! I kept on 
going to bed early for three or four nights, and 
the rain continued for as many days. But I 
finally outlasted the rain, and pitched the opening 
game, and won it. Then I worked along regu- 
larly in my turn, and didn't lose a game until 

343 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

Memorial Day. And that brought me up to be a 
regular big-League pitcher. 

Many persons have asked me how I throw the 
fade-away. The explanation is simple: when the 
out-curve is thrown, the ball is allowed to slip off 
the end of the thumb with a spinning motion that 
causes it to bend away from a right-handed bat- 
ter. The hand is held up. Now, if the wrist were 
turned over and the hand held down, so that the 
ball would slip off the thumb with a twisting mo- 
tion, but, because the wrist was reversed, would 
leave the hand with the thumb toward the body 
instead of away from it, I figured that an in- 
curve to right-handed batters would result. That 
is how the fade-away is pitched. The hand is 
turned over until the palm is toward the ground 
instead of toward the sky, as when the out-curve 
is thrown, and the ball is permitted to twist off 
the thumb with a peculiar snap of the wrist. The 
ball is gripped in the same way as for an out- 
curve. 

Two things make it a difficult ball to pitch, and" 
the two things, likewise, make it hard to hit. 
First of all, the hand is turned in an unnatural 
position to control, or throw, a ball when the 

344 



HOW I BECAME A BIG-LEAGUE PITCHER 

palm is toward the ground. Try to throw a ball 
with the hand held this way, and you will find it 
very difficult. Next, that peculiar snap to the 
wrist must be attained. The wrist is snapped 
away from the body instead of toward it, as in 
the throwing of an out-curve, and it is an un- 
natural motion to make. The secret of the curve 
really lies in this snap of the wrist. 

Many times I have tried to teach other pitchers 
in the big League — even men on opposing clubs, 
— how to throw this ball, but none have ever mas- 
tered it. Ames, of the Giants, can get it once in 
a while, and Drucke oftener, but it is a ball which 
requires a great deal of practice. It is a hard 
ball to control, and unlimited patience must be 
used. If any boy desires to try it, let him practise 
for control first, and then try to make the curve 
bigger. Be sure to turn the hand over with the 
palm toward the ground, and throw the ball by 
snapping the wrist away from his body, which 
will send it spinning slowly up to the batter. It 
comes up '^dead,'' and then drops and curves in. 

In conclusion, as at the beginning, I want to 
emphasize the value of control for young pitch- 
ers. Let a boy practise control, always, before 

345 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

he starts to learn curves ; for again let me assure 
him that he will win many more games if he caa 
throw the ball where he wants to and hasn't a 
curve, than if he has a big curve but can't control 
the ball. Another thing that a young pitcher must 
be careful about is the way in which he holds the 
ball. When I went to Norfolk to pitch, I was 
wrapping my fingers around the ball when I was 
going to throw a curve, so that it was evident to 
the batter what was coming. '^Phenom John" 
Smith came to me one day and said: ** Matty, 
you'll have to cut that out. You telegraph to the 
batter by the way in which you wrap your fingers 
around the ball every time you are going to throw 
a curve. It won't do in this League." 

I began to practise holding the ball in the same 
way for each kind of delivery, and then adjusting 
my fingers as I made the motion to let the ball go 
from my hand. Boys should practise this, also, 
as it is fatal to wrap the fingers around the ball 
in such a way that a batter can see when a curve 
is coming. A pitcher should cover the ball up 
with his glove when facing the batter, anyhow. 

I always hold the ball in the same way for 
every curve, that is, with my whole hand around 

346 



HOW I BECAME A BIG-LEAGUE PITCHER 

it, and not with two or three fingers wrapped on 
it. For a change of pace, I hold it loosely so that 
the ball can be thrown with the same motion as 
for a fast one. Sometimes, for a drop, I hold my 
fingers on the seam, in order to get more pur- 
chase on the ball. 

Many persons have asked me about the ^^ moist,'' 
or ^^spit" ball. I seldom use it, because I think 
it is hard on a pitcher's arm, and difficult for the 
catcher to handle and for the players to field. It 
has many disadvantages. Occasionally, I used to 
try one on ^^Hans" Wagner, the great batter of 
the Pittsburgh club, because it was generally be- 
lieved that he didn't care for a moist ball, but 
this, too, is only one of the many ^^ theories" of 
base-ball. He can hit a moist ball as well as any 
other kind! and I have stopped pitching it alto- 
gether, now. 

The only reason that I ever used it was to 
**mix 'em up." Next to control, that is the whole 
secret of big-League pitching — ^^ mixing 'em up." 
It means inducing a batter to believe that another 
kind of a ball is coming from the one that is really 
to be delivered, and thus preventing him from 
^'getting set" to hit it. That is what gives the 

347 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

fade-away its value. I pitch it with the same mo- 
tion as a fast ball, but it comes up to the plate 
slowly. The result is that the batter is led to be- 
lieve a fast one is coming, and sets himself to 
swing at a speedy shoot. The slow ball floats up, 
drops, and he has finished his swing before it gets 
to the plate! I often pitch the fade-away right 
after a fast ball; and, as for reports that I can't 
control it, I use it right along when I have three 
balls and two strikes on a batter, which is the 
tightest situation a pitcher has to face. For it is 
a ball that will usually be hit slowly, on the 
ground to the infielders, if the batter hits it at 
all. Its value, as I have said, lies in the surprise 
that it brings to a batter when he is expecting 
something else. 

I have often been asked, if it is such a difficult 
ball to hit, why I don't use it all the time. The 
answer is that such a course would make it easy 
to bat, and, besides, it is a ball which strains and 
tires the arm. 

Finally, I want to say that ^^Phenom John" 
Smith did a great deal toward developing me as a 
pitcher. He pointed out my weaknesses as he 
saw them, and gave me a great deal of valuable 

348 




MATHEWSON AT THE FINISH OF THE 
FAMOUS FADE- AWAY 
Photo by Paul Thompson 



HOW I BECAME A BIG-LEAGUE PITCHEE 

advice. If any of my readers expect to play big- 
League ball, let them find some friendly ^ ^ Phenom 
John'' Smith and get his advice. There are scores 
of old ball-players, ever ready to help an ambi- 
tious youngster, and they are the best-natured 
men in the world. And once more: remember 
that control is the thing in pitching! No man 
was ever a big Leaguer for long without it. 



THE END 



351 



A. G. SPALDING'S SIMPLIFIED EULES 

THE BALL GROUND 

Base-Ball is played upon a level field, upon which is 
outlined a square, which is known as the infield or * * dia- 
mond." The term ** diamond," in a broader sense, is 
also frequently used in the United States to apply to 
the entire playing field. Literally, however, the ** dia- 
mond" is the infield proper. 

The infield is bounded by the base-running paths, 
which extend from base to base. The bases are placed at 
right angles to each other, on each corner of the ''dia- 
mond," at intervals of ninety feet beginning from the 
home plate. Thus first base must be ninety feet from 
home plate, second base ninety feet from first base, 
third base ninety feet from second base and also ninety 
feet from the home plate, thus completing a perfect 
square. 

The territory which lies behind third base, second base 
and first base, beyond the infield and within the lines 
defining fair ground and also without these lines, is 
known as the outfield. All that portion of the field out- 
side of the base lines that extend from home plate to 
first base and from home plate to third base, all terri- 
tory behind the home plate and all territory outside of 
straight lines reaching from the outside corner of third 

353 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

and first bases indefinitely to the outfield is foul ground. 

Sometimes it is impossible for boys who desire to 
play base-ball to obtain a field sufficiently large for 
the regulation diamond, whose dimensions have previ- 
ously been stated, and in such cases an effort should al- 
ways be made to place the bases at equal distances from 
each other in order that the symmetry of the diamond 
and the correct theory of the game may be preserved. 
Flayers of younger years may find that a smaller dia- 
mond adds rmore enjoyment to their amiisement, since 
they are better able to cover the ground in fielding the 
hall in a smaller area and do not become so fatigued 
by running the bases when the latter are stationed at 
their full legal distance from each other. — (Italics are 
the author's.) 

The bases, except home plate, are best constructed of 
canvas bags filled with sawdust. Home plate should 
be of whitened rubber, whenever it is possible to obtain 
it. Some cruder substance may be used for bases if 
nothing else is obtainable, but it is best to follow the 
suggestions given. First, second and third bases should 
be attached to pegs driven in the ground, and home 
plate should be sunk so that its upper surface is on a 
level with the surface of the ground. 

The pitcher's position on a diamond of regulation 
size is located sixty and five-tenths feet from home plate, 
and on a straight line, extending from home plate to 
the center of second base. It, too, should be denoted 
by a plate of whitened rubber, to be sunk until its upper 

354 



SIMPLIFIED RULES 

surface is on a level with surface of the field. This 
plate should be the shape of a parallelogram twenty- 
four inches long by six inches wide, with the longer 
sides of the parallelogram at right angles to home plate. 
If a diamond smaller than the regulation size be 
used, the pitcher's position should be relatively closer 
to home plate. 

THE BALL. 

The Spalding Official National League Ball is used in 
regulation games, hut for players fifteen years of age 
or younger, the Spalding Official ^^ National League 
Junior' ' hall, made the same as the National League 
Ball, only slightly smaller in size, should he used, for 
it hetter fits the hoy's hand and prevents straining the 
arm in throwing. — (Italics are the author's.) 

THE REGULATION BAT. 

The bat must always be round and not to exceed 2% 
inches in diameter at the thickest part. 

REGULATION GLOVES AND MITTS. 

The catcher or first baseman may wear a glove or mitt 
of any size, shape or weight. Every other player is 
restricted to the use of a glove or mitt weighing not 
over ten ounces and measuring not over fourteen inches 
around the palm. 

players' uniforms. 
Games played by players not clad in a regular uni- 
form are called ** scrub" games and are not recorded as 

355 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 



<< 



match" games. Every club should adopt a regular 
uniform, not only to enable the players to play properly 
and with comfort, but to distinguish one team from the 
other. 

players' benches. 
All ball grounds should be provided with two players' 
benches back of and on each side of the home plate. 
They must be not less than twenty-five feet outside of 
the coachers' line. The coachers may not go within fif- 
teen feet of the base lines. Each team should occupy 
one of these benches exclusively, and their bats and ac- 
coutrements should be kept near the bench. 

FIELD RULES. 

No person shall be allowed upon any part of the play- 
ing field except players in uniform, the manager of 
each side (and the latter not when the game is in prog- 
ress, except that he is in uniform) ; the umpire and the 
officers of the law. No manager, captain, or player is 
supposed to address the spectators. In a regular League 
match this is considered a violation of the rules. 

SOILING AND PROVIDING BALLS. 

No player shall be allowed to soil a new ball prior 
to putting it into play. 

In League games the home team provides the ball. 
It is customary in smaller leagues to expect the home 
team to do the same. The umpire has the custody of 
the ball when it is not in play, but at the conclusion of 

356 



SIMPLIFIED RULES 

the game the ball becomes the property of the winning 
team. 

NUMBER AND POSITION OP PLAYERS. 

Two teams make up each contest with nine players on 
each side. The fielders are known as the pitcher, the 
catcher, the first baseman, the second baseman, the third 
baseman, the shortstop, the left fielder the center fielder 
and the right fielder. None of these is required to oc- 
cupy an exact position on the field, except the pitcher, 
who must stand with his foot touching the pitcher's 
plate when in the act of delivering the ball to the batter, 
and the catcher, who must be within the ** catcher's 
space" behind the batter and within ten feet of home 
plate. Players in uniform must not occupy seats in the 
stands or mingle with the spectators. 

SUBSTITUTE PLAYERS. 

It is always advisable to have a sufficient number of 
substitutes in uniform ready to take the field in case 
any player shall become disabled or be disqualified. 

It is the duty of the captain of each team immediately 
to announce changes of players to the umpire, and the 
imipire shall announce them to the opposing team and 
ispectators. 

When a pitcher is taken from his position his sub- 
stitute must continue to pitch until the batsman has 
reached first base or has been put out. 

CHOICE OF INNINGS — FITNESS OF FIELD FOR PLAT. 

The home team has the choice of innings and deter- 
357 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

mines whether the ground is fit for play providing it 
has rained before the beginning of the game. If two 
clubs from the same city are playing, the captain of 
the team on whose ground the game is played has the 
choice of innings. 

A REGULATION GAME. 

The game begins with the fielders of the team losing 
the choice of innings in their respective positions. The 
first batter of the opposing team is in his **box'' at 
home plate. This *'box" is a parallelogram, six feet 
by four, on either side of home plate, and six inches 
back from the furthest corner of the plate. 

If it is not possible to outline a ''box" it should be 
remembered that the batter is never allowed to step 
over home plate to strike at the ball, and that he must 
not run forward toward the pitcher, to exceed three 
feet from the center of the plate, to strike at the ball. 

The umpire may take his position, at his option, 
either behind the pitcher or the catcher. He judges all 
balls and strikes, declares all outs, decides whether the 
ball is batted foul or fair, decides as to the legality of 
the pitcher's delivery, and, in fact, has complete control 
of the game. His decisions must never be questioned, 
except by the captain of either team, and only by the 
latter when there is a difference of opinion as to the 
correct interpretation of the rules. 

The team at bat is allowed two coaches on the field, 
one opposite first base and the other opposite third base, 

358 



SIMPLIFIED RULES 

but they must never approach either base to a distance 
closer than fifteen feet, and must not coach when there 
are no runners on the bases. 

Whenever a player is substituted on a nine he must 
always bat in the order of the man who retires from 
the game. A player may be substituted at any time, 
but the player whose place he takes is no longer eligible 
to take part in the contest. 

When a substitute takes the pitcher's place in the box 
he must remain there until the batsman then at bat 
either is retired or reaches first base. 

A game is won when the side first at bat scores fewer 
runs in nine innings than the side second at bat. This 
rule applies to games of fewer innings. Thus, when- 
ever the side second at bat has scored more runs in half 
an inning less of play than the side first at bat it is 
the winner of the game, provided that the side first 
at bat has completed five full innings as batsmen. 
A game is also won, if the side last at bat scores the 
winning run before the third hand is out. 

In case of a tie game play continues until at the end 
of even innings one side has scored more runs than the 
other, provided that if the side last at bat scores 
the winning run before the third hand is out the game 
shall terminate. This latter provision applies to a reg- 
ular nine-inning game. Rulings relative to drawn 
games and games that are called because of atmospheric 
disturbances, fire or panic will be found under the head 
of ''Umpire's Duties." 

359 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

PITCHING RULES. 

Before pitching the ball the pitcher must face the 
batsman with both feet squarely on the ground and 
in front of the pitcher *s plate. When the ball is de- 
livered the pitcher must face the batter and one of his 
feet must be in contact with the pitcher's plate. Not 
more than one step must be taken in the act of delivery. 

Whenever the ball after being pitched and without 
striking the ground goes over any part of home plate 
between the knee and the shoulder of the batsman it 
must be called a strike, whether the batsman strikes at 
it or not. 

If the pitcher fails to deliver the ball over any part 
of the plate, or if he delivers it over the plate above the 
shoulder or below the knee and the batsman declines 
to strike at it, it is called a ball, or if the bases are un- 
occupied, any ball delivered by the pitcher while either 
foot is not in contact with the pitcher's plate shall be 
called a ball. 

If the ball touches the ground before it passes home 
plate and is not struck at by the batsman, it is a ball 
and must be called as such by the umpire. If struck 
at, it is, of course, recorded as a strike. 

At the beginning of each inning the pitcher is al- 
lowed to throw five balls to the catcher or to an infielder 
for '* warming-up " practice, the batsman refraining 
from occupying his position in the **box" at home plate. 

After the batsman steps into his position the pitcher 
must not throw the ball around the infield, except to 

360 



SIMPLIFIED RULES 

retire a base-runner. If he violates this rule and, in 
the opinion of the umpire, is trying to delay the game, 
the umpire may call a ball for every throw thus made. 
If the pitcher occupies more than twenty seconds in 
delivering the ball to the batter the umpire may call 
a ball for each offense of this nature. 

The pitcher must not make any motion to deliver 
the ball to the batsman and fail to do so, nor must he 
feint to throw to first base when it is occupied by a 
runner and fail to complete the throw. Violation of 
this rule constitutes a balk which gives all runners who 
are on the bases at the time an opportunity to advance 
a base without being put out. 

A balk is also declared when the pitcher throws to 
any base to catch a runner without stepping directly 
toward that base in the act of making the throws ; when 
either foot of the pitcher is behind the pitcher's plate 
when he delivers the ball; when he fails to face the 
batsman in the act of delivering the ball ; when neither 
foot of the pitcher is in contact with the pitcher's plate 
in the act of delivering the ball; when, in the opinion 
of the umpire the pitcher is purposely delaying the 
game; when he stands in his position and makes any 
motion with any part of his body corresponding to his 
customary motion when pitching and fails immediately 
to deliver the ball; when he delivers the ball to the 
catcher when the latter is outside of the catcher's box. 

When a pitched ball, at which the batsman has not 
struck, hits the batsman before the catcher touches it, 

361 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

the umpire must call it a dead ball and no base-runner 
can advance. The batsman, however, must be in his 
position at the time that the ball hits him and must 
make every effort to get out of the way of the ball if 
he fears that it will hit him. 

If a batsman makes a foul strike, if a foul hit is not 
caught, if the umpire declares a dead ball, or if a fair 
hit ball touches a base-runner or umpire, if the pitcher 
makes a balk, or if there is interference with fielder or 
batsman, the ball is not in play until after it has been 
returned to the pitcher, standing in his position, and 
the umpire has given the word to resume play. No base- 
runners may advance when the ball is not in play. 

"Whenever a person not engaged in the game touches 
a batted or thrown ball, a block follows. This must at 
once be announced by the umpire, and runners shall 
be privileged to advance bases until the ball is thrown 
to the pitcher, standing in his position. After that they 
advance at their peril. The pitcher may then throw a 
runner out wherever he sees a possibility of doing so. 
Should a spectator retain possession of a blocked ball, 
or throw it or kick it out of the reach of the fielder who 
is endeavoring to recover it, the umpire must call 
**Time,'' and hold all runners at such bases as they oc- 
cupied when he called ''Time" until after he has per- 
mitted play to resume, with the ball returned to the 
pitcher standing in his position. 



362 



SIMPLIFIED RULES 



BATTING RULES. 



Before the game begins each captain must present 
the batting order of his team to the umpire, who shall 
submit it to the captain of the other side. This batting 
order is followed throughout the game except when a 
player is substituted for another, the substitute batting 
in the order of the retired player. 

Each player of each nine must go to bat in his regular 
order unless a substitute has been authorized to take 
his place. 

After the first inning the first batter in each succeed- 
ing inning is the player following the man who com- 
pleted his full time at bat in the inning before. For 
instance, if a batter has but one strike in the first inning 
and the third hand be put out while he is at bat, he 
becomes the first batter in the following inning, not hav- 
ing completed his full time at bat in the inning previous. 
In such case, any balls and strikes called in the previous 
inning do not count when he resumes his time at bat. 

Players of the side at bat must remain on their seats 
on the players* bench except when called upon to bat, 
to coach, or to act as substitute base-runners. 

No player of the side at bat except the batsman is 
privileged to stand in the space behind the catcher, or 
to cross it while the pitcher and catcher are handling 
the ball. 

Players sitting on the bench of the side at bat must 



363 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

get out of the way of fielders who approach them while 
trying to field a batted or thrown ball. 

Any legally batted ball that settles on fair ground 
(the infield) between home and first base, or between 
home and third base, or that bounds from fair ground 
to the outfield inside of first base, or third base, or that 
touches the person of a player or the umpire on fair 
ground, is a fair hit. 

A fair hit is also any legally batted ball that first 
falls on fair territory beyond first base or third base. 

Any legally batted ball that settles on foul ground is 
a foul hit, except that a ground hit, should it roll from 
foul to fair territory between first and home and third 
and home, and remain there, is a fair hit. 

A ground hit that first strikes fair territory and rolls 
outside of the foul line between first and home, or third 
and home, is a foul hit. 

Any legally batted ball that falls on foul territory 
beyond first base, or third base, or that touches the 
person of a player or an umpire on foul ground, is a 
foul hit. 

A foul tip is the continuation of a strike which has 
merely been touched by the bat, shoots directly into the 
hands of the catcher and is held by him. 

A bunt hit is legally tapping the ball slowly within 
the infield by the batsman. If a foul result, which is 
not legally caught, the batsman is charged with a strike, 
whether it be the first, second or third strike. 

Any hit going outside the ground is fair or foul as 
364 



SIMPLIFIED EULES 

the umpire judges its flight at the point at which it 
passes beyond the limitations of the enclosure in which 
the contest takes place. A legal home run over a wall 
or a fence can only be made when the wall or fence is 
235 feet from the home plate. This rule is not invari- 
ably followed in amateur games. 

If the batsman strikes at a pitched ball and misses 
it, a strike is called. 

If the batsman fails to strike at a pitched ball which 
passes over the plate at the proper height, a strike is 
called. 

A foul tip caught by the catcher is a strike. 

A foul hit, whether a fly or a ground hit, bounding 
to any part of foul ground, is a strike unless the batter 
has two strikes. After two strikes the batter may foul 
the ball without penalty unless he bunts or is caught 
out on a foul fly. 

All bunts rolling foul are strikes. If the batsman 
strikes at the ball and misses it, but the ball hits him, 
it is a strike. 

If the batsman, with either of his feet out of the 
batsman ^s box, hits the ball in any way it is a foul 
strike and the batsman is out. 

If a batsman bats out of turn and it is discovered 
after he has completed his time at bat, but before the 
ball has been delivered to the succeeding batsman, the 
player who should have batted is out, and no runs can 
be scored, or bases be run, on any play made by the 
wrong batter. This penalty is not enforced unless the 

365 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

error has been discovered before the ball is delivered 
by the pitcher to the succeeding batsman. 

If the error is discovered while the wrong batsman is 
at bat, the proper player may take his place, but he 
must be charged with whatever balls and strikes have 
already been recorded against the wrong batsman. 
Whenever this happens the batters continue to follow 
each other in their regular order. 

Should the batsman who is declared out for batting 
out of order be the third hand out, the proper batsman 
in the next inning is the player who would have come 
to bat had the side been retired by ordinary play in the 
preceding inning. 

The batsman is out if he fails to take his position 
within one minute after the umpire has called for him. 

The batsman is out if a foul fly, other than a foul 
tip, is caught by a fielder, providing the latter does 
not use his cap, his protector, or any illegal contrivance 
to catch the ball, and providing the ball does not strike 
some object other than a fielder before being caught. 
It has been ruled that when the ball lodges in the 
catcher's protector by accident and he secures it before 
it falls to the ground, the catch is fair. This is a very 
exceptional play. 

The batsman is out whenever he attempts to hinder 
the catcher from fielding or throwing the ball, either 
by stepping outside of the lines of his position or by 
deliberate obstruction. 

The batsman is out when three strikes are called and 
366 



SIMPLIFIED RULES 

first base is occupied, whether the catcher holds the ball 
or not, except there be two hands out at the time. 

The batsman is out, if, while attempting a third strike, 
the ball touches any part of his person, and base-runners 
are not allowed to advance. 

Before two men are out, if the batsman pops up a fly 
to the infield with first and second, or first, second and 
third bases occupied, he is out if the umpire decides that 
it is an infield hit. The umpire shall immediately de- 
clare when the ball is hit whether it is an infield hit or 
an outfield hit. It is customary for the umpire to call 
the batter out in case that he decides it an infield hit, 
so that base-runners may be protected and not force 
each other out through the medium of a double play. 

The batsman is out on a bunt that rolls foul if the at- 
tempted bunt be made on the third strike. 

The batsman is out if he steps from one batsman's 
box to the other after the pitcher has taken his position 
to pitch. 

BASE-RUNNING RULES. 

After the batsman makes a fair hit in which he is 
not put out he must touch first, second and third bases, 
and then the home plate in regular succession in order 
to score a run. 

No base-runner may score ahead of the man who pre- 
cedes him in the batting order if that player is also 
a base-runner. 

The batsman must run to first base immediately after 
367 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

making a fair hit, or when four balls have been called 
by the umpire, or when three strikes have been declared 
by the umpire. If the batsman is hit by a pitched ball, 
cither on his person or clothing, and the umpire is satis- 
fied that the batsman did not purposely get in the way 
of the ball, and that he used due precaution to avoid it, 
he is entitled to run to first base without being put out. 

The batsman is entitled to run to first base without be- 
ing put out if the catcher interferes with him or tries 
to prevent him from striking at the ball. 

The batsman is entitled to first base, without being 
put out, if a fair hit ball hit either the person or cloth- 
ing of an umpire or a base-runner who is on fair ground. 

Whenever the umpire sends the batsman to first base 
after four balls have been called, or for being hit by a 
pitched ball, or because he has been interfered with 
by the catcher, all runners on bases immediately ahead 
of him may advance a base each without being put out. 
A runner on second or third base with first base un- 
occupied would not be considered a runner immediately 
ahead. 

Any base-runner is entitled to advance one base when 
the umpire calls a balk. 

Any base-runner is entitled to advance one base when 
the ball, after being delivered by the pitcher, passes 
the catcher and touches any fence or building within 
ninety feet of the home plate. The penalty in regard to 
touching a fence or building is frequently waived by 
mutual consent where the ground area is limited. 

368 



SIMPLIFIED EULES 

If a fielder obstructs a base-runner the latter may go 
to the next base without being put out, providing the 
fielder did not have the ball in his hand with which to 
touch the runner. 

All base-runners may advance three ba^es whenever 
a fielder stops or catches the ball with his cap, glove, or 
any part of his uniform detached from its proper place 
on his person. 

Should a thrown or pitched ball strike the person or 
clothing of an umpire on foul ground, the ball is not 
dead, and base-runners are entitled to all the bases they 
can make. 

The base-runner shall return to his base without lia- 
bility of being put out when a foul is not legally caught, 
when a ground ball is batted foul, or when the batter 
illegally bats the ball. 

On a dead ball the runner shall return to his base 
without liability of being put out, unless it happens to 
be the fourth pitched ball to the batter, in which case, 
if first, or first and second base, or first, second and third 
bases be occupied, runners shall advance to the next 
ba^es in regular order. If by accident the umpire in- 
terferes with the catcher's throw, or a thrown ball hits 
the umpire, on fair ground, the runner must return to 
his base and is not to be put out. If a pitched ball 
is struck at by the batsman, but missed, and the ball 
hits the batsman, the runner must return to his base and 
may not be put out. If the umpire is struck by a fair 
hit ball before it touches a fielder, or the umpire declares 

369 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

the batsman or another base-runner out for interference. 
In any of the above cases the runner is not required to 
touch any intervening bases to reach the base to which 
he is legally entitled. 

If after the third strike has been called and missed by 
the catcher the then batsman attempts to hinder the 
catcher from fielding the ball, he is out. 

Any fly ball legally hit by the batsman and legally 
caught on fair or foul ground is out. 

Three strikes are out if the catcher holds the ball. In 
case he drops it, but picks it up, and touches the bats- 
man, or throws it to first base, and the first baseman 
touches thjj base, or the batsman, before the latter can 
get to first base, the batsman is out. 

Should the batsman make a fair hit and in the last 
half of the distance between home plate and first base 
run more than three feet outside of the base line, he 
is out, except that he may run outside of the line to 
avoid interference with a fielder trying to field the ball 
as batted. This rule is construed rather liberally owing 
to the great speed with which runners have to go to 
first ba^. 

Whenever the runner is on the way from first to sec- 
ond base, second to third base, or third base to home 
plate, or in reverse order trying to secure the base which 
he has just left, he must keep within three feet of a 
direct line between bases. If he runs out of line to 
avoid being touched by a fielder, he is out. However, 
if a fielder is on the line trying to field a batted ball, 

370 



SIMPLIFIED RULES 

the runner may run behind him to avoid interference 
and shall not be called out for it. 

Interference with a fielder attempting to field a batted 
ball retires the runner, unless two fielders are after the 
same hit, and the runner collides with the one whom 
the umpire believes to have had the lesser opportunity 
to field the ball. 

The runner is always out at any time that he may be 
touched by the ball in the hands of a fielder, unless the 
runner is on the base to which he is legally entitled. 
The ball, however, must be held by the fielder after he 
has touched the runner. If the runner deliberately 
knocks the ball out of the fielder's hands, to avoid being 
put out when not on base, he shall be declared out. 

If a runner fails to get back to a base after a foul or 
fair hit fly ball is caught other than a foul tip, before 
the ball is fielded to that base and legally held, or the 
runner be touched by a fielder with the ball in his hands 
before he can get back to the base last occupied, the 
runner is out, except that if the ball be thrown to the 
pitcher, and he delivers it to the batter, this penalty 
does not apply. If a base should be torn from its 
fastenings as the runner strikes it, he cannot be put out. 

If a runner is on first base, or runners are on first and 
second bases, or on first, second and third bases, and the 
ball shall be legally batted to fair ground, all base-run- 
ners are forced to run, except in the case of an infield 
fly (previously referred to), or a long fly to the outfield. 
Runners may be put out at any succeeding base if the 

371 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

ball is fielded there and properly held, or the runners 
may be touched out between bases in the proper manner. 
After a foul fly is caught, or after a long fly to the out- 
field is caught, the base-runners have the privilege of 
trying for the next base. 

A base-runner hit by a legally batted'ball in fair terri- 
tory is out. In such case no base shall be run, unless 
necessitated by the batsman becoming a base-runner. 
No run shall be scored nor shall any other base-runner 
be put out except the one hit by the batted ball until the 
umpire puts the ball in play. 

A runner who fails to touch each base in regular or 
reverse order, when a fair play is being made is out if 
the ball be properly held by a fielder on the base that 
should have been touched or the runner be touched out 
between bases by the ball legally held by a fielder, pro- 
vided that the ball has not been delivered to the batsman 
in the meantime by the pitcher. 

If a runner fails to return to the base that he occupied 
when **Time" was called after the umpire has an- 
nounced *'Play" he is out, provided that the pitcher has 
not in the meantime delivered the ball to the batsman. 

The runner is out if he occupies third base with no one 
out or one out and the batsman interferes with a play 
that is being made at home plate. 

The runner is out if he passes a base-runner who is 
caught between two bases. The moment that he passes 
the preceding base-runner the umpire shall declare him 
out. 

372 



SIMPLIFIED RULES 

When the batter runs to first base he may overran 
that base if he at once returns and retouches it. An 
attempt to run to second base renders him liable to be 
put out. 

If, while third base is occupied, the ooacher at third 
base shall attempt to fool a fielder who is making or 
trying to make a play on a batted ball not caught on the 
fly or on a thrown ball, and thereby draws a throw to 
home plate, the runner on third base must be declared 
out. 

If one or more members of the team at bat gather 
around a base for which a runner is trying thereby con- 
fusing the fielding side, the runner trying for the base 
shall be declared out. 

If a runner touches home plate before another runner 
preceding him in the batting order, the former loses his 
right to third base. 

COACHING RULES. 

The coachers must confine themselves to legitimate di- 
rections of the base-runners only, and there must never 
be more han two coachers on the field, one near first 
base ax.„ the other near third base. 

SCORING OF RUNS. 

One run shall be scored every time that a player has 
made the legal circuit of the bases before three men 
are out, provided that a runner who reaches home on 
or during a play in which the third man is forced out, or 

373 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

the third man is put out before reaching first base, the 
runner shall not be entitled to score. 

A player who makes a legal hit to fair territory is 
entitled to as many bases as he can advance without 
being put out. If a fielder is unable to get the ball home 
until the man has completed the circuit of the bases, the 
latter is entitled to a home run, provided the fielder has 
not made a misplay in handling the ball. The same rule 
applies to the making of a three-base hit a two-base hit, 
or a hit for one base, which is also known as a single. 

A force-out can be made only when a base-runner 
legally loses the right to the ba^e he occupies by the 
batsman becoming a base-runner and he is thereby 
obliged to advance. 

GROUND RULES. 

Any special ground rules shall be understood by both 
team captains and the umpire, or umpires, in case there 
be two officials. The captain of the home club establishes 
the ground rules but if the visiting captain objects, the 
matter must be left to the umpire, who has final juris- 
diction. 

umpire's duties. 

When there are two umpires, the umpire behind the 
plate is the " Umpire-in-Chief , " and the umpire on the 
bases the ''Field Umpire.'' The ''Umpire-in-Chief" 
has full charge of the game, makes all decisions on balls 
and strikes and decides all fair and foul hits. If a ball 
is hit fair, with a runner on first, he must go to third to 

374 



SIMPLIFIED EULES 

make a possible decision; with more than one base oc- 
cupied, he decides whether a runner on third base leaves 
the base before a fly ball is caught, and if a runner is 
caught between third and home, with more than one base 
occupied, he decides on the runner nearest home plate. 
He, alone, can forfeit a game. 

The Field Umpire makes the other decisions. 

When there is but one umpire he has complete juris- 
diction over everything. 

The umpire has the right to call a draw game, when- 
ever a storm interferes, if the score is equal on the last 
inning played. Calling a ''draw game" must not be 
confounded with calling "time." 

If the side second at bat is at bat when a storm breaks, 
and the game is subsequently terminated without further 
play, and this side has scored the same number of runs 
as the other side, the umpire can call the game a draw 
without regard to the score of the last equal inning. In 
other words the game is a draw just as it rests. 

Under like conditions if the side second at bat has 
scored more runs than the side first at bat, it shall be 
declared the winner, all runs for both sides being counted. 

A game can be forfeited by the umpire if a team re- 
fuses to take the field within five minutes after he has 
called ' ' Play " ; if one side refuses to play after the game 
has begun ; if, after the umpire has suspended play, one 
side refuses to play after he has again called ''Play"; 
if one side tries to delay the game ; if the rules are vio- 
lated after warning by the umpire ; if there are not nine 

375 



THE BATTLE OF BASE-BALL 

players on a team after one has been removed by the 
umpire. The umpire has the right to remove players 
for objecting to decisions or for behaving in an ungentle- 
manly manner. 

Only by the consent of the captain of an opposing 
team may a base-runner have a player of his own side 
run for him. 

Play may be suspended by the umpire because of rain, 
and if rain falls continuously for thirty minutes the um- 
pire may terminate the game. The umpire may call 
**Time" for any valid reason. 



Under no circumstances shall a captain or player dis- 
pute the accuracy of an umpire's judgment and decision 
on a play. If the captain thinks the umpire has erred 
in interpretation of the rules he may appeal to the um- 
pire, but no other player is privileged to do so. 

GENERAL DEFINITIONS. 

*'Play" is the order of the umpire to begin the game 
or to resume it after ''Time" has been called. 

''Time" is the order of the umpire to suspend play 
temporarily. 

"Game" is the announcement of the umpire that the 
contest is terminated. 

"Inning" is the time at bat of one team and is ter- 
minated when three of that team have been legally put 
out. 

376 



THE BALL GROUND 

''Time at Bat" is the duration of a batter's turn 
against the pitcher until he becomes a base-runner in 
one of the ways prescribed in the previous rules. In 
scoring a batter is exempt from a time at bat if he is 
given a base on balls, if he makes a sacrifice hit, if he 
is hit by a pitched ball, or if he is interf erred with by the 
catcher. 

SCORING RULES. 

Each side may have its own scorer and in case of dis- 
agreement the umpire shall decide, or the captain of each 
team may agee upon one scorer for the match. 



377 



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